


To Live For Ourselves

by drQuinzel



Category: One Piece
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Bad Flirting, Crack Pairing, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Feels, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, for those who get the she-ra reference, lab partners technically, monet getting the screen time she deserves, perospero's little siblings cheering on their big bro, that i took very seriously and now i'm hooked
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:40:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25287706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drQuinzel/pseuds/drQuinzel
Summary: The Big Mom Pirates find Caesar's assistant alive after the events of Punk Hazard and bring her to Totto Land.Perospero gets help in constructing the replica of Vegapunk's lab while Monet discovers what it's like to be part of a Yonko crew.In which two people who've always sacrificed for the sake of others, come together and learn what it's like to fall in love.
Relationships: Charlotte Perospero/Monet, Charlotte Perospero/Monet (One Piece)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 52





	1. Prologue

“Oi, there's a closed door over here!"

"Hold on a sec, man. It's freezing and we can barely move."

News of the Straw Hats' raid on the Punk Hazard facility reached Totto Land fairly quickly, and Big Mom immediately ordered her crew to recover anything related to the gigantification experiment, including the scientist involved.

It was best to go before the Marines and the World Government had the same idea as well. The queen of Totto Land sent her daughter, Galette, to oversee the operation.

It didn't take that long from the time of the incident to their arrival at Punk Hazard, as Tamago and Pekoms, who saw the events live, already gave the rest of the Big Mom Pirates the heads up.

Galette’s crew was currently scouting for anything they could bring back to Mama, not wanting to incite her anger if they didn't find anything worthwhile.

The Minister of Butter looked at the crewmember who called for help to open the huge steel doors in front of them. Thankfully Oven thought ahead and suggested they bring welding gear such as blowtorches with them, just for situations like this.

“ _It’d better be worth it_.” Galette mumbled to herself as they started to melt the doors. She was hating every second she was in the cold.

Mama should’ve sent someone who didn’t mind a bit of a chill, like Moscato. But nope, it just had to be her.

Thankfully they got it open right away and several crewmembers hurried inside.

There was an odd pause after they entered, before someone called out. “It's… a monster? She's kinda cute though."

Galette wasn't in the mood. She snarled, making her way inside the room. “What the hell are you idiots talking about?”

She saw some of her boys surround what looked like to be a person lying on the floor. From the entrance, she could only see the talons of a bird. But as Galette walked closer, she saw the green haired woman known as Monet. The girl was seriously injured, but somehow alive.

Of course, Big Mom made sure to keep tabs on Caesar and his experiment, so they always knew what was happening on the island, including who Caesar was associated with. Galette heard about his assistant Monet, but wasn't aware that she was some kind of harpy.

"Is that what a SMILE fruit does to someone, Galette-sama?" one of her crewmembers asked, staring at Monet's injured form.

Galette shook her head. "No, this is different, SMILE fruits don't work like this."

Galette studied Monet carefully before continuing. "The last report we got on Punk Hazard was that Trafalgar Law had teamed up with Caesar. I assume this is his work."

The green-haired woman's skin was pale and her breathing was shallow. It was a miracle she was still alive.

Suddenly, as if she woke up to the sound of their voices, Monet opened her eyes and looked up at the Charlotte daughter.

Galette stepped back in surprise.

"H-help me. Please." is all the harpy said before closing her eyes once more.

Galette stared at Monet's unconscious form for a few more moments before turning to her men. "See to it that this woman is treated. We're bringing her back to Totto Land with us."

They started to move, slowly and carefully picking Monet up to bring her onboard and to the ship's doctor.

Galette decided that bringing Caesar's assistant would be enough for Mama and ordered the rest of the men to get ready to set sail.

As soon as the order was given, they started to board the ship, carrying various devices from the facility that they thought would be useful.

"Galette-sama, I found this." A crewmember approached the Charlotte daughter as she was issuing orders on the deck.

She thought it'd be another device, but never would she have expected to see an actual beating heart inside a transparent box.

She was a member of the Big Mom pirates dammit, she wasn't going to lose face in front of her crew over a little thing like a heart in a box.

Even if it had a blood stain on it.

"And who does that belong to?" she asked, thankful that her voice didn't crack.

"I'm not sure, Ma'am, but I heard that Trafalgar Law used his devil fruit powers to give the hearts of pirates to the Marines. It might belong to someone from the island that he operated on."

From behind her, Galette saw the others rushing to and from the ship doctor's little clinic, carrying extra sheets with them.

That's when it clicked. She saw how slow and soft the heart beats were and remembered how Monet looked when they found her.

"Give it here." She opened up her palm and the crewmember carefully passed the heart to her.

Galette marched into the clinic, still holding the other woman's beating heart.

Monet was on the bed and still unconscious, but all bandaged up.

"How is she?" Galette asked the doctor.

The man, who looked more like a pirate than an actual doctor, sat beside Monet, just about done treating her. "She's stable now and I've bandaged her wounds. She's lucky we found her when we did."

The doctor glanced once at Monet, before looking back up at his captain and scratching his chin. "It's strange though, I keep checking for her heartbeat and it's as if there isn't one. But she's breathing normally now, I'm not sure how that's possible."

"That's because her heart isn't in her body. It's right here, doc." She held up the box in front of the doctor.

He jumped back in shock. Galette explained the situation and handed him the box to examine.

Steadying his hands, he studied the heart closely. "There's no denying then that this is hers. Her breathing earlier was very shallow and even for someone who ate the Yuki Yuki no Mi, she looked very pale yet I didn't see any injuries on her where extreme blood loss was evident."

He looked at Monet then back at the heart. "It's safe to assume that her heart was stabbed while it was outside of her body. A grave injury, of course but, I've seen you and your siblings with devil fruit powers come back from worse."

He turned back to his captain. "She'll be fine as long as her heart is kept safe. It seems Trafalgar Law can preserve the hearts of his enemies this way, a dangerous and powerful thing to have."

Galette nodded as he handed the heart back to her. "Thanks, doc. Let me know when she comes to."

She took one more look at Monet. Upon closer inspection, the girl did look better now and she seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Galette then looked back at her heart and smiled.

She couldn't wait to tell the rest of her family.

And also to ask Mama that Moscato should go on these kinds of missions more. She's had enough cold for a while thank you very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes this is a crack pairing but i fell in LOVE with them and the lack of Perospero fics makes me sad so I'm here to fill the void


	2. Welcome to Totto Land

When Monet woke up after losing consciousness that first time, she saw the silhouette of a huge coat and thought Doffy had come to save her. She smiled thinking she’d finally be able to go home to her family in Dressrosa. 

But apparently fate had different plans and it wasn’t the Donquixote family that rescued her, but another family, Big Mom’s.

So that’s how she found herself lying on a white hospital bed on Whole Cake Island. The upside was that it was so much more colorful and sweet-smelling to what she used to wake up to on Punk Hazard. 

The downside was that she was wearing seastone cuffs.

Since waking up, she had so far only seen nurses and doctors come and go to check up on her. They only told her the basics, that she was in Big Mom’s territory after they found her on Punk Hazard, and that she was recovering very well. They informed her that she’d been asleep for two of the three days she was confined. In all fairness to them, they were kind to her and didn’t treat her as if she were some sort of enemy. 

Aside from the seastone cuffs, she didn’t _feel_ like an enemy either. The room was actually very nice, and even had a view of Whole Cake’s capital, Sweet City. There was a table and chair by the window and the vase on top always had fresh flowers. It was so peaceful that it was hard to believe this was the capital of one of the four strongest pirates in the New World. 

As Monet looked out her window to see children laughing and playing, she couldn’t help but think of her sister Sugar, and how she was doing back on Dressrosa. She wondered what Doffy told her little sibling, if the young master even told her anything at all about what happened on Punk Hazard. 

But that train of thought stopped when the door to her room opened. She expected it to be one of the nurses again, however this time it was someone else. Monet recognized her as the woman who saved her on Punk Hazard, and she was looking quite smug for some reason.

“The doctors tell me you’re doing much better.” the woman said.

Monet simply nodded, not sure if she should be more hostile towards her visitor. “Yes, they’ve been very good to me..”

The other woman took a seat in the corner beside the window. “You’re lucky we found you when we did, you know?”

“Ah, I wanted to thank you for that. I remember waking up for a while and seeing you. Galette, right? I caught it while I was on your ship.” Monet couldn’t help but feel that something bad was coming.

Galette grinned at her. “You may want to save your gratitude for later. Look what else we found on that little island.” 

And there it was. That ‘bad feeling’.

Looking back, Monet didn’t really mind that Law took her heart and what consequences would come from it, since she knew Doffy would’ve been there to help back them up anyway.

But then the Straw Hats arrived and everything went downhill from there. 

There was a pause, the only room coming from Monet’s beating heart.

The green-haired woman waited for Galette to speak first, not wanting to do anything to anger the woman who was literally holding her heart in the palm of her hands.

The Charlotte daughter grinned and with her features, it reminded Monet of a Cheshire cat. “Don’t think you’re here as a guest just yet. You’ll be discharged from the hospital today and I’m bringing you to Mont-d’Or-onii. We’ll decide what to do with you then.” 

Monet wanted so much to just bury Galette in a blizzard and fly back to her family in Dressrosa. She also wanted to cry out that she was meant to sacrifice her life for her young master, not get caught by his enemies.

But she had trained her whole life for this, to hide her true feelings in the face of adversity. She had to be strong, for her and Sugar, and for the Donquixote family that took them in and treated them with kindness.

So Monet simply stared back at the other woman and showed a small smirk. “I hope the accommodations are as good as this one.”

Galette chuckled. “You’ll see for yourself soon enough. A nurse’ll be here to check up on you one last time and hand you some clothes we got for you.”

The Charlotte daughter stood up and walked back to the door before turning around to look at Monet again, she seemed to be showing off that little box of hers with how she held it in her palm like a treasure.

“Welcome to Totto Land, dear.”

And with that, she slammed the door and left Monet alone with her thoughts.

Monet looked back out her window, she watched the kids still playing, trying to chase a butterfly they found. 

Using her wings, she clutched her blanket tightly, letting the tears run down her face. She still wasn’t sure how to gauge her situation and that terrified her even more. This was a _Yonko_ ’s crew. Even Doffy was very careful around them. 

_What would you do, young master?_ She thought to herself.

Monet was busy trying to calm herself down and think clearly about the whole situation before a nurse arrived with a pair of new clothes for her. 

At least the colors they picked out were more her style and not the vibrant ones she assumed went with the whole Big Mom Pirates color scheme. 

It helped a little at least.

* * *

Dressed now in a black tank top and shorts, with orange full length socks, Monet was brought into a huge library inside the Whole Cake Chateau. Not exactly a place she thought Yonkos kept potential prisoners but hey, she’d take it. 

In the room with her were Galette and her two older brothers that she mentioned on the way over. Mont-d’Or and Opera, the former looked like the stress has finally gotten to him and the latter just looked too friendly to be an evil crewmember of the second most powerful pirate of the New World.

Mont-d’Or crossed his arms and glared at the girl in front of him. “So, you’re Caesar’s assistant and a member of the Donquixote family?”

Monet simply nodded. “Yes, that’s correct. Joker assigned me to Punk Hazard.”

“And before that, you helped Joker AKA Doflamingo, take over Dressrosa ten years ago. You disguised yourself as one of the former King’s palace staff.” 

The green-haired woman flashed a small smile and hummed. “I’m impressed and flattered, not many people know that little detail.” 

Opera laughed. “Well we are known for our information-gathering, you know. Nothing gets past us.”

“Oh, I’ve heard. The young master may be well connected but it’s nothing yet compared to the likes of Big Mom.” Monet responded sweetly to the cream-looking man.

Opera smiled bashfully. “Aww, you’re really nice.” He turned to his brother. “Oi, Mont-d’Or, she doesn’t seem like an enemy. Maybe we-”

Mont-d’Or flailed his arms around and let out a yell. Monet thought the vein on his forehead was gonna pop out. “This isn’t a soiree, Opera-no-aniki! This is an interrogation!”

Monet stifled a laugh, did he just say _soiree_?

Opera frowned. “I know that, but how is keeping her locked up gonna help Mama?”

Mont-d’Or calmed down from his little outburst and continued glaring at Monet. “Doflamingo is known for his fierce love for his executives. We could ransom her in exchange for him no longer supplying SMILE to Kaido.”

Galette chimed in as well. “Or I bet Mama would love to have a new little exotic pet to add to her collection. Imagine having your own harpy as an alarm clock.” She smiled that Cheshire grin of hers before continuing. “You could screech every morning to wake her up.”

Monet didn’t back down. “I’m sure having so many whiny brats around is enough of an alarm for her.”

The Charlotte woman simply chuckled. “Oh, look at that. She thinks she’s clever.” She took out Monet’s heart. “We should fix that.” 

Galette squeezed.

Monet screamed.

The pain was both unbearable and strange at the same time, to see her heart outside of her body yet sense the stinging inside her. She touched a wing her chest and there was no thumping, but she could still _feel_ it.

Her legs were shaking and begging to collapse from the excruciating pain, but she refused to kneel before them. 

Monet had to admit that one was on however she wasn’t just going to let that alarm clock comment go. If she could take a stab to the heart, she could take a little squeeze. 

She steadied her breathing and looked back at the Charlotte siblings. Galette continued grinning, Mont-d’Or still looked deeply stressed and troubled, while Opera was just staring at her.

There was a tense moment where everyone was silent and the only sound heard was that of the birds chirping outside. 

Then, “Didn’t Mama have a replica of Vegapunk’s lab built recently?” Mont-d’Or asked Galette.

His sister looked like she didn’t follow where he was going with this, but answered him all the same. “Yes, it’s here on Whole Cake.”

Monet thought Mont-d’Or could have permanent furrowed brows with how tense and serious he was. “I assume you helped Caesar with the gigantification experiment?” he asked.

Monet nodded, remembering all of the children they kidnapped and lied to. “Yes, I did.”

It was silent again and Opera kept glancing between her and his siblings, looking like he was trying his hardest to connect the dots.

Finally he asked his younger brother, “What do you have in mind?”

“As we speak, Pekoms and Bege are on their way to collect Caesar from the Straw Hats. I spoke to them on the _den den mushi_ earlier and they informed me they’re nearing Dressrosa.”

Monet’s eyes widened when she heard that. Just what were Trafalgar Law and Straw Hat Luffy planning?

Mont-d’Or continued, “We won’t need to ransom her to Doflamingo once we have Caesar anyway, that would halt the production of SMILE altogether.”

Galette looked annoyed. “So what does that have to do with the lab and her?” 

Mont-d’Or grinned. “I was getting to that, little sister. The blueprints we procured are of Vegapunk’s lab before Doflamingo took over. What if the layout changed to better accommodate the experiment? And who was there with Caesar to oversee operations?”

Monet noticed that both she and Galette were starting to understand his train of thought. 

“You want her to help build the lab.” Galette said, a statement not a question.

Mont-d’Or smiled smugly, looking very proud to have thought of that idea. “Exactly! Mama’s been wanting this giant project done ages ago, and what better way to help speed up the process then with her help?” 

Opera smiled. “That’s a very good plan, little bro.”

The younger Charlotte son seemed very proud of himself. “Of course it is! I’m not a master strategist for nothing!”

Monet held a sigh of relief. It looked like she would be on construction duty and not locked up in a cell for the rest of her time on Totto Land. That was a win in her book at least. 

Galette looked at Mont-d'Or. “Peros-onii is really proud of how he perfectly replicated the lab. How do you think he’s gonna take us suggesting a little… _renovation_? You know how he can be with his candy creations.”

That’s when Monet saw Mont-d’Or smile for the first time. It was a bit creepy. “That’s where you and Opera come in. It’s your job to tell Peros-onii.”

“Tell me what?”

They all looked up at the owner of the new voice.

Silence.

Then the Charlotte siblings yelled out “ _Peros-onii!?_ ”


	3. So you want to build a lab

Monet had heard about Perospero before, coming across his name several times in newspapers. If she wasn’t mistaken, his current bounty was around 700,000,000 berries, the combination of Straw Hat Luffy’s and Caesar’s.

It was terrifying to think of how powerful he was able to garner that kind of bounty. But she guessed that was to be expected from the firstborn of a Yonko.

As the man got closer, Monet noticed how much taller he was compared to her and everyone else. It was enough for him to gain command of the room the instant he entered.

For someone who looked very colorful and playful, he had such an intimidating aura.

Now this is what she was waiting for since waking up in Totto Land, a powerful member of a Yonko. Sure she met his siblings, but he seemed different, more threatening.

She also couldn’t help but wonder if his tongue was just gonna keep sticking out like that. But she didn’t want to be rude and stare at it. Eyes forward, Monet.

“Peros-onii, what are you doing here?” Mont-d’Or asked, in a strained high-pitched voice.

“Streusen needed help earlier with some candy decorations for Mama's dessert today. I was about to leave when I heard voices coming from in here.” he said, crossing his arms.

He scanned the room and that was when Monet felt his eyes on her, as if he just noticed her. Again, she didn’t want to be rude and stare, but she also didn’t want to avoid his gaze and give off the impression that she was kind of intimidated.

She was, but still.

Perospero hummed. “Who’s this, then?”

It was Galette who answered. “Her name’s Monet. She was Caesar’s assistant on Punk Hazard for a while. I found her lying on the lab's floor half dead and decided to bring her here.”

“ _Kukuku_ , you got beat by a bunch of upstart pirates and rowdy marines?” Perospero teased, grinning at her.

Monet smiled. “Well, technically they didn’t, and it was a stab to my heart that finally got me.”

That seemed to catch his interest. “Your heart?”

“Yes. And here I am.”

That’s when Perospero decided to study her chest, her tank top revealing a bit of cleavage.

Monet blushed and covered herself up. “Oi! What’s the big idea?”

Perospero though, look nonplussed. “You don’t have a scar, though.”

The green-haired woman calmed down, realizing what his purpose was for basically staring at her boobs. 

“That’s because her heart was stabbed outside of her chest. The work of Trafalgar Law.” Galette explained, getting her big brother’s attention.

She held up the box that contained Monet's heart.

Perospero carefully got it from his sister, examining it for himself. “How very interesting.”

Monet felt a chill, terrified that he’d squeeze her heart at that moment, just for fun. He was staring at it like it was some kind of rare specimen, she didn’t know whether to feel flattered or nauseous.

She held a sigh of relief when he finally stopped examining it and gave it back to Galette. The eldest Charlotte son turned towards his younger siblings.

“Then what is she doing here?”

"Mama did tell me to find anything of value on Punk Hazard." Galette said. "So I thought, why not her?"

Her older brother rolled his eyes. "Not that. I mean what is she doing here in the chateau?"

Mont-d’Or laughed nervously. “Yes, well, you see Peros-onii, that’s a very interesting thing. Maybe Opera or Galette can-”

Perospero groaned. “Mama’s been nagging me to perfect Vegapunk’s lab and you didn’t think to send me the one person who could help out?”

Silence.

Then, “...what?” Mont-d’Or asked.

Perospero crossed his arms and actually looked disappointed. “Honestly, Mont-d’Or, you should’ve thought of it sooner, really. I expected better from you.”

Mont-d’Or looked like a fish out of water with how he was opening and closing his mouth. “...again, what?”

His older brother sighed. “Oh well, that’s fine. Our guest here will be under my charge from now on.”

Perospero opened his palm up to Galette. “Give me her heart, you’ve done well, finding someone like this for us. Now all we need is Caesar and Mama will be one step closer to her dream. Good job, Galette.”

The woman was beaming as she gave Monet’s heart to her brother. “Anything for Mama, Peros-onii! It was nothing, the _cold_ was nothing.”

Mont-d’Or on the other hand looked like he was about to sprout white hairs any second. First, his sister was praised for something she’d been complaining about since getting back from Punk Hazard, and now, Perospero somehow stole his idea from him.

Monet wanted to laugh. It was amusing how the eldest Charlotte son was able to change the whole atmosphere and control the situation just like that.

Perospero kept her heart in his coat then turned to the green-haired woman, gesturing to her wrists. “You won’t be needing those seastone cuffs.”

“What?!” Galette and Mont-d’Or yelled.

“She’s trapped in enemy territory, _Yonko_ territory. Where would she go? She can’t defeat all of us.” Perospero said, like it should have been obvious. And it really was, now that Monet thought about it.

“But...but… she could fly away.” Mont-d’Or said, but he sounded unconvinced himself. 

Perospero just laughed. “And? We have soldiers and surveillance _den den mushi_ everywhere. Unless…”

Then he smirked at his brother before continuing. “Your brilliant military strategies and security protocols are no match for her?”

 _Oh, he’s good,_ Monet thought.

Mont-d’Or was stuttering now, unsure of how to answer his older brother. Even Galette and Opera didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for the Minister of Cheese.

Perospero looked absolutely smug as Mont-d’Or finally relented and took out the keys to personally remove her cuffs.

Monet sighed out loud, rubbing her wrists. Those cuffs were on her since she got to Totto Land. She was feeling much lighter, stronger and freer.

She looked up at Perospero who was grinning down at her. “Now then, let me show you your new accommodations. You’ll be living in the lab from now on.”

Monet nodded, allowing herself to show a small smile. “As long as I get to go around without cuffs, I’ll go anywhere.”

“ _Kukuku_ , follow me, my dear.” He started walking away with Monet right on his heels.

As soon as they were out in the hallway and Perospero closed the doors, they heard Mont-d’Or let out a yell.

“ _What just happened!?_ ”

Perospero grinned. “Now, what do you suppose has gotten into him?”

Monet didn’t want to laugh, but she did smirk back.

* * *

The walk with Perospero wasn’t as tense as Monet thought it would’ve been, especially after what happened with his siblings.

They didn’t run into a lot of people while they made their way out of the chateau. And those that did see didn’t seem to pay her mind, mostly greeting their Perospero-sama instead.

Once they were outside, there was a carriage being pulled by a huge pig waiting for them. They were off as soon as they both took their seats inside.

Monet looked out her window, at the scenery of Sweet City. It reminded her a little of Dressrosa, how such a peaceful-looking place with walking and talking inanimate objects probably also carried dark secrets.

It was only when she saw a chef zooming past them carrying a plate of cheese did she dare speak up.

“Back in the library-”

“Prison.” He said.

Monet blinked. “Prison?”

Perospero nodded, his arms crossed as he looked straight ahead instead of at her. “Yes, Mont-d’Or's Buku-Buku No Mi lets him store our prisoners into the pages of a book, forever preserved and can be viewed at anytime.”

Monet shivered, thinking that she could’ve ended up in one of those books if Perospero hadn’t come in, or at least if Mont-d’Or didn’t think of that lab idea.

Speaking of, her question, “Back in the prison then, I’m curious, did you know about what Mont-d’Or was planning?”

She could see him grin. “My dear, are you assuming that I was hanging around outside of the room and listening into the conversation, planning what to do and waiting for the perfect time to make my presence known?”

Monet opened her mouth and closed it. “Well…”

“Because you’re absolutely right.”

She looked up at him, confused by his actions. And he seemed to understand her expression.

“Mont-d’Or can be uptight most times, as you just saw, and makes it harder on our other siblings.” he explained. “Sure he’s a great tactician, but his ego gets pretty big because of it. I was simply reminding him of his place, and entertaining a guest at the same time.”

Monet just continued to stare at him, not sure how to read him just yet. He was an interesting man sure, and he also saved her from wearing seastone cuffs.

But he was still a dangerous member of the Big Mom Pirates, as well as the current holder of her heart.

Yes, that last part sounded weird but that's the New World for you.

An oink was heard outside and the carriage promptly stopped.

"Ah, here we are." Perospero exited first and left the door open.

He offered his hand out to her and she hesitated. As much as he was simply being polite, he was still her enemy.

She got out of the carriage on her own, using her wings to help push her out.

Monet didn't look back at Perospero, thinking he'd be offended that she refused his gentlemanly offer. But to her surprise and relief, he said nothing and walked ahead of her. She followed right behind him.

And was stunned by the view.

Perospero turned around to look back at her, smiling smugly, as if expecting her to react that way. "Well?"

Monet kept staring at the building in front of her. She felt like she was back on Punk Hazard, but it was missing the biting cold and instead smelled so sweet.

Like candy.

She snapped out of her stupor and looked at Perospero. "You made this? Out of candy?"

He seemed so smug, but he earned it. "It's been reinforced by iron and steel as you can see but yes, I did. It seems my reputation as a candy man precedes me."

"You're always in the papers, but I didn't think you could do something like _this_. It looks exactly like the lab, all that's missing is the cold, goons and Caesar himself. It's amazing."

It really was, she had to give it to him. This was a lab made for Vegapunk and the World Government, and he made an exact replica all by himself.

He grinned. "I'm humbled, my dear. Now then, shall we take a look inside?"

She was still in awe as she followed him. The inside was so much like the original that it was actually almost creepy. The last time she saw the entrance to the lab, it was filled with paralyzed bodies everywhere.

It was also strange how he was touring her around what was technically her own home. He’d look back at her occasionally, pointing out this and that detail. Each room they passed by, she had flashes of the last time she was in them.

But it was only when they got to the third floor of the lab that she truly felt terrified.

The biscuit room.

She saw flashes of a green demon charging towards her. A silent scream, a black blade right in front of her, her body split in two.

Monet froze, the trauma from before still haunting her. She remembered how she was in such a state of shock that she couldn’t transform back to normal until much later. She remembered feeling paralyzed and hopeless.

Her breathing quickened, and she felt so cold and dizzy.

Perospero in front of her also stopped. He looked down at his coat and seemed to be searching for something. Monet realized that it was her heart he pulled out.

She saw how fast it was beating, and that just terrified her even more, to actually see it like that, and that her captor could see it too.

Perospero stared at her heart for a few moments before turning to look at its owner.

Monet didn't like the way he was grinning wickedly. “What’s wrong? Your heart is beating so fast and you look as pale as _snow_.”

He moved closer towards her. “Does this room bring back interesting memories? My bet is it’s something traumatic judging by the way you look. _Kukuku_ , am I right?”

For all their casual conversations and jokes made earlier, she forgot that this man was a sadistic and vicious member of the Big Mom Pirates. She wasn’t going to take the bait. No, she had to be strong.

So she tried to slowly calm down her breathing. She thought of Sugar, the young master, the rest of her family and their time together on Dressrosa. She thought about how this lab was just a replica.

And that’s when it clicked.

It was a replica of Vegapunk’s lab, not Caesar’s. She backed away from Perospero who was still leering over her, then she rushed forward to open the steel door.

Inside, it was just another huge bland looking space with a metal interior. There were no toys, no play areas and no colorful paintings. There was no snow, no marine in a pink coat and no green demon.

She heard Perospero laugh and turned around to see him still looking at her heart.

The beating slowed down and she felt much better.

The eldest Charlotte son glanced at her before placing her heart back in his coat.

"Well that was something! I bet there’s a delicious story behind that, _kukuku_.”

Monet decided not to comment, not wanting him to hold anything over her head.

“Now then, as exciting as this little tour has been, it's getting late.” Perospero continued. “I assume you know where the beds are. Someone will be by tomorrow to bring your clothes. We can start in the morning."

Monet wanted to say something, anything just so he wouldn't have the last laugh. But it was too late and he was already on the lift.

He even bowed and tipped his hat towards her. "Sweet dreams, my dear. I can already tell how fun this is going to be. _Kukuku._ "

When Monet heard the doors slam shut downstairs, she decided to call it a day and fell asleep in the replica of her own bedroom, dreaming that she was back in Dressrosa lounging by the palace's pool surrounded by her family, instead of crying herself to sleep in a strange and scary place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly feel like Perospero is really charming and a smooth talker, like when he greeted Morgans and the others when they arrived for the tea party. Sure he has a sadistic side, but he's still a charismatic guy with a tendency to be dramatic and grand.


	4. Breakfast and biscuits

Just as Perospero informed her the day before, a soldier that looked like a chess piece stopped by the lab to drop off the rest of Monet’s things. The soldier also told her that the eldest Charlotte son would appreciate it if she started reviewing the lab’s blueprints to see what needs changing. 

He handed her a copy of the blueprints, let her know that “Perospero-sama” would be arriving soon and then scurried off. 

Monet decided to stop by the surveillance room to see if the video den den mushi were actually running, and she was only mildly surprised that they were, just like the original. The Big Mom Pirates really went all out on their projects, she had to give that to them. 

Monet figured that going over the blueprints while glancing back and forth at the rooms through the surveillance system would be the fastest way to review everything.

She was already jotting down notes for changing the layout of some sections when she noticed movement from one of the screens. She glanced up and saw Perospero entering the lab. 

It annoyed her that he was walking around like he owned the place. 

Well technically he did, but still.

Behind him were two more of those chess soldiers. They were carrying a metal tray with them. 

Perospero glanced around the room before waving his arms around. 

"Oi, Monet! Where are you?" he demanded, sounding like a child. 

Monet sighed, part of her wanted to see how long she could drag this out by keeping quiet but knew that wasn't going to help. She took the den den mushi in front of her, the one she assumed was hooked up to the speaker system.

"Surveillance room." she simply said. 

Perospero seemed slightly startled when he heard her voice, but quickly regained his composure and started walking, the chess soldiers right behind him.

As she waited for him to arrive, she couldn't help but feel somewhat scared to start working with the Minister of Candy. Galette and Mont-d’Or sure, she knew how to handle those types of “captors”, but with their older brother, she didn't know how to read him just yet.

Back in the library with his siblings, she felt like a guest being entertained by a host, then her panic attack happened in the lab and he acted like she was a specimen he couldn't wait to examine. 

_New World pirates_ , she thought. 

The door behind her opened and she turned her chair around to greet Perospero. 

The man smiled, but it still looked more like a sinister grin. "Good morning, my dear. You're looking much better today." 

She simply smiled back. "I do feel better, thank you." 

Perospero then raised his hand, and suddenly produced a small table in front of Monet. It was yellow in color and smelled very sweet. 

The Minister of Candy looked at the soldiers behind him and gestured for them to move forward. 

They set the tray they were carrying down onto the newly created table. One of them removed the metal lid and Monet was greeted by a wonderful sight and a delicious smell.

In front of her was an omelette that looked hot and freshly cooked. Beside it were various fruits, and all of that was served with a cool glass of orange juice.

Monet was salivating. She hadn't seen a breakfast like this since Dressrosa. 

She looked up from the magnificent meal to see the soldiers saluting Perospero then rushing off. 

The eldest Charlotte son caught her gaze. 

"Don't be shy now. I'm sure you must be starving. The Totto Land chefs use only the finest and freshest ingredients, you know. So please, enjoy." 

Monet stared at the feast before her. Something still felt off, like there might be poison in it. She doubted it, but just to be safe she asked him, "What about you? Where’s your food?" 

He chuckled. "How considerate of you, but I already had my breakfast and cup of tea this morning. Duties as the eldest son of Big Mom has me waking up very early, as you can imagine."

Oh great, that answer didn't help calm her. Now she's even more nervous. 

Sure it might not be poison that killed her, but what if he really did see her as an experiment and this was some kind of new drug that the Big Mom Pirates wanted to test out? She already had wings and the lower limbs of a bird, what more could happen?

Hearing Perospero's _kukuku_ broke her train of thought. 

"Oh please. My dear, if we were going to get rid of you, I assure you that poison wouldn't be the way. It isn't our style." 

"And what _is_ your style?" she asked. 

Perospero leered. "A bullet through your skull."

That convinced her.

Monet no longer hesitated, and took a few bites from the omelette. 

She hated to admit that it was one of the best-tasting dishes she ever ate.

She was gobbling it up like it was her last meal. She realized she hadn't gotten the chance to eat something like this since she left Dressrosa, and not even those dishes back at the palace could compare. 

The omelette was perfect and just the right temperature, while the juice was just absolutely refreshing. Even the fruits were good, like they were specially freshly picked. 

Monet finished up her meal with one last sip of juice and let out a contented sigh. If that was going to be her last meal, then that was fine with her. 

She looked up to see Perospero standing beside her, waiting for her reaction. 

He smiled. "I take it that you enjoyed it?" he asked as if he already knew the answer. 

Monet thought to reply in a polite tone. "I did, thank you. The food here is probably the best I've ever tasted." 

Perospero crossed his arms. "Of course it is. Mama hires only the best, especially when it comes to food." 

“Well I don’t doubt that.” she smiled, wiping her mouth with the napkin they provided as well.

She turned her chair around to see Perospero scanning her notebook. She didn’t mind, she was going to show it to him anyway.

“I see you already have plans to renovate.” He said, studying her notes.

Monet nodded, and looked at the monitor that showed D Block. Currently it was an empty space, she assumed Vegapunk’s initial plans for it were never completed before Caesar decided to go wild and poison everyone.

She pointed to the screen to get Perospero’s attention. “This was where the SAD manufacturing room was. I was thinking we could use it to store the equipment of the gigantification project instead.”

Monet didn’t want to say that there was technically no equipment room for that project as Caesar had drunkenly told her one night that it was impossible to scientifically transform people into a giants, even for "a genius like him.” 

But they didn’t need to know that, let Caesar be the one to tell them the _good news_.

Perospero just nodded, busy studying the other monitors. He pointed to a section on the fourth floor. “The blueprints designated this room as Vegapunk’s personal quarters. I assume Caesar took over the space. Will he need anything there for the experiment?”

Monet really wanted to laugh and tell him the truth. The only “experiment” that Caesar did in that room was getting drunk with a bunch of girls he paid for using Big Mom’s money. She remembered walking in one time to ask the scientist a question, only to find him in a compromising position.

She didn’t think a gas person could do _that_.

The green-haired woman instead opted to say, “Oh, it really was just his personal quarters. Let’s say he didn’t like bringing work home with him.”

Technically not a lie.

Fortunately, Perospero didn’t ask her anything more about it.

But she saw that evil grin again and knew he had something planned. He looked at the blueprints and pointed to what used to be the biscuit room.

“And how about this room? Nothing needs changing?”

Monet knew it was coming. She prepared for this. “Nothing right now, no.”

“Are you sure, my dear? It’s not wise to lie. I still have an ace up my sleeve, or rather, a heart, _kukuku_.”

She wouldn’t back down. “If you must know, that’s where we kept the subjects for the experiment. You’ll have to ask Caesar himself if anything still needs changing, he’s the expert.”

The Minister of Candy looked disappointed. Good. “Fine. What else do we need to do?”

Monet pointed to the room outside of the Biscuit Room. “This is where we examined the subjects, right outside their living quarters. Best to have tables and beds here.”

“Ok, should be easy enough. Let’s get to work then.” 

Perospero offered his hand out again to help Monet stand up. She was contemplating between taking it or flicking it away with her wing when they heard the door behind them open. 

A half-naked man with purple hair that seemed to crackle appeared. He was looking frantic and out of breath from running.

“What’s wrong, Cracker?” Perospero asked. 

The man, Cracker, responded, “Peros-onii, it’s Mama. She’s running wild on Nuts Island. Well, I guess going _nuts_ on Nuts Island is better and-”

“Cracker!” Perospero yelled. “Who’s handling the situation now?”

“Amande-oneesan’s preparing the brownies with almonds Mama’s craving for now. But there are people injured and they need to evacuate the island first. We’re not sure if the ships would be fast enough and thought you could help with your candy waves.”

Perospero nodded. “Right. I'd best get going.” Then he turned to Monet. “I'll be back later, my dear.”

Cracker looked from his big brother to the woman, as if he just noticed she was in the room as well.

The purple-haired man blinked. “Oh, hey. You’re really pretty.” He turned to the older man. “Peros-onii, when did you get a fiance?"

Monet's eyes widened. 

Perospero stuttered. “She’s not my fiance, you idiot! She’s helping me build this lab for Mama.”

Cracker scratched the back of his head. “Oh… so, girlfriend then?" 

Monet wanted to laugh at how Perospero was reacting. Like a true big brother annoyed at their little sibling. 

"No! She's a guest!"

Cracker actually looked like he was pouting. "Well that's too bad. She's gorgeous!" 

Monet blushed. "Aww, thanks." 

Perospero glared at her and she simply smiled at him in response. 

The candy man sighed, turning to his younger brother. “Just, stay here and watch her while I’m gone.” 

And without even looking back at her, the Minister of Candy left, looking very annoyed and grumbling something like ‘idiots, have to do everything myself’

As soon as he left, Cracker turned to Monet, offering her a genuine smile. "Yo, I'm Cracker, Peros-onii's little brother."

Monet smiled at him, happy at how genuinely friendly he was being. "I'm Monet. Forgive me but I've seen a Charlotte Cracker in bounty posters before. You don't seem to look like him."

This made him laugh. "Oh, that's my devil fruit power, y'see." Suddenly he started clapping and a bunch of biscuits appeared from nowhere. Slowly they started to take shape and turned into a huge square-looking soldier.

Cracker gestured towards his creation. "I make warriors and my own armor from biscuits. No one outside of Totto Land has seen me out of it 'cuz no one's been able to crack it." 

This amazed her. Just how strong was a Yonko's crew? 

Cracker took the seat beside her, propping his feet on the control panel. 

"So, you're the girl with the snow powers Galette and Mont-d'Or mentioned. They told me you were a prisoner, but the lack of cuffs and clean plate over there tell me otherwise." 

She smiled. "Well, you have your big brother to thank for that." 

Cracker suddenly lunged forward in his seat, he looked so cute, like an excited child. "You mean Peros-onii? Really? The same guy that threatens to slowly turn the insides of his victims into candy? That guy?" 

Monet nodded. "He's the only Perospero I've met, yeah." 

Cracker jumped back in his seat. "That's amazing! Well, he did say you were a guest. My big brother can be a real smooth talker, so you never know. But he also has a sadistic side." 

Monet felt a chill when she remembered how much he teased her during her panic attack. "Yes, I've noticed." she replied. 

"Hmm, it’s strange though, it looked like he-" 

_Puru-puru-puru_

The distinct sound of a den den mushi suddenly came from Cracker. He searched his pockets and took out the little snail.

" _Cracker-oniisan! Are you there? It's Moscato."_ the voice on the line said.

"Moscato? What's wrong?" Cracker asked.

" _It's Mama. Amande-oneesan brought the snack but Mama wants brownie ala mode now so we're going to have to bring her ice cream. And, there's a problem…_ " 

Cracker waited for the man to continue. 

" _Usually we'd have ice cream on hand in a freezer ready for her hunger pang attacks, but Mama just finished all the vanilla ice cream yesterday. We'll have to make a new batch on the way there_ _while cooling it quickly_." 

Cracker glanced at Monet before speaking again. "You know about _her_ don't you?" 

"... _Opera-oniisan suggested it._ "

Monet locked eyes with Cracker as he spoke. "Got it. Is Brulee busy?" 

"I'm already here, Cracker-oniisan." 

The voice came from inside the room but Monet looked around only to find a mirror in a corner. 

Cracker dropped the call and stood up to approach the mirror. "Did you know about this?" To Monet, he seemed to be talking to his reflection. 

But the voice from earlier replied. "Yes, Amande-oneechan told me to come here quickly. Luckily Peros-onii thought ahead to place mirrors around the lab." 

Monet finally stood up from her seat and approached the mirror for herself. Looking closer, she saw that Cracker wasn't talking to his reflection, but to a woman who was actually _inside_ the mirror. 

“ _Huh?_ ” Monet said. The wonders of Totto Land and the Charlotte siblings never ceased.

The woman, Brulee, noticed her as well. "Yes, I'm in the mirror, yes, it's amazing." she said impatiently. "Now come on, before Mama destroys the whole island." 

Brulee reached out of the mirror to grab both her wing and Cracker's arm, pulling them in with her. 

Monet had no time to admire how astounding the whole place was and the possibilities it held, as Brulee was still dragging her along by a wing. 

"Is Perospero gonna be ok with this?" she asked Cracker who was running behind them. 

The man shot her a smile. "Oh don't worry about him. He did tell me to watch you, and I still am!" 

Monet couldn't fault his logic. She smiled back. "Right." 

She pulled her way out of Brulee's hold, and started flying. She forgot how free it made her feel.

Brulee and Cracker looked up at her. The former looking annoyed, and the latter in awe. 

"Oi! If you can fly, then you can get there faster! Pick me up and let's get going." Brulee ordered.

Cracker waved his arms. "You can actually fly? I thought those wings were just for show!" 

Monet chuckled before grabbing Brulee by the shoulders with her talons. She could tell it looked quite comical, but Brulee didn't seem to be in a humorous mood. 

"We'll go ahead Cracker-oniisan, you know what to do." Brulee called out to her brother.

"Yeah, yeah I'll see you there." 

Monet started flying, following Brulee's directions. She couldn't help but wonder if Totto Land was this exciting all the time. And as Brulee shouted for her to fly faster while Cracker laughed behind them, she had to admit that she was actually having fun.

And it wasn't even lunch time yet! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really feel like Cracker would be very playful especially with his siblings. Anyway, thanks to all those who gave kudos and commented, i really appreciate it <3


	5. Brownies, blizzards and ice cream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> late upload because I lost my motivation and my work started piling up sorry about that :(( but now hopefully i can start writing a lot more again <3 appreciate everyone who still reads this!

"Thank you, Perospero-sama." 

"Be sure to hang on, riding the candy wave can get rough." 

Perospero had just finished evacuating the last of Nuts Island's citizens, a middle aged woman with her young daughter in her arms, the latter shaking from fear. 

Perospero took a lollipop from his hat and offered it to the scared little girl. "Here, for being so well behaved and looking after your mama." 

As soon as she saw the delicious treat, the young girl let out a squeal of glee and took the candy without hesitating. "Oh wow! Thank you, Perospero-sama!" 

He patted her head before having the candy wave carry them to safety. He waved at the little girl and her mother who looked back at him thankfully. 

As soon as they were far out of sight, the candy man turned his attention back to the damage on the island. Entire buildings were destroyed, with the houses downtown taking the brunt of Mama's attack. 

The woman herself was busy still terrorising and mowing down whatever was in her path while shouting "Ala mode" occasionally. Perospero feared what would’ve happened if they hadn’t evacuated the city as soon as they had. Who knew how many lives would be lost, including that little girl from earlier.

Perospero didn’t mind much the goons they hired, their lives basically damned already. It was the kids he was worried about the most. As the eldest Charlotte sibling, he always had a weak spot for the little ones, feeling the need to protect them as much as he could.

Tearing himself away from his thoughts, Perospero got the  _ den den mushi _ from his coat. "Amande, how are we with the dessert?" he asked over his Mama’s shouting.

" _ The brownie is done. Pudding just sent it over. Oven-onii is currently keeping it warm until the ice cream gets here _ ." 

"Where  _ is _ Moscato?" he glared at the _den den mushi_ , as if the snail would be able to give him the answer he sought.

There was a notable pause before Amande answered, Perospero felt a bit of dread at that slight detail but was already too on edge to think about it. " _ Last I heard, he was on his way. It should be no less than ten minutes. _ " 

"Good. The sooner, the better."

_ Ka-cha _ . 

He looked back at Mama, still amazed that she hadn’t killed anyone during her rampage.

Not  _ yet _ anyway.  But he was sure they'd have the dessert ready before that happened. They just had to. 

" _Oiiiiii_! Peros-onii!" 

That sounded a lot like Cracker. 

Wait...

_ Why  _ did that sound like Cracker?

Perospero was almost too afraid to turn around to address whoever yelled at him. Was his brother actually there? Did he leave Monet in the lab? Was she left without a guard? Did she-

"Peros-onii! We got the ice cream!" 

_ That _ got his attention. Perospero whirled around. 

And dropped his jaw at the sight before him. 

Cracker, Moscato and Brulee were all on a ship, with a few cooks behind them preparing a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzling it with chocolate.

And to top off that bit of surprise, his answer to what happened to Monet was there as well. The girl in question was with them, flying over the ship and creating a mini blizzard, which he assumed was their _ brilliant  _ idea on how to keep the ice cream cool on the way to the island.

Perospero was so confused and irritated that he didn't know who to yell at first. Cracker for disobeying him, Monet for leaving the lab and freely using her devil fruit powers, Moscato for needing this much help for food he was responsible for in the first place, or even Brulee for not telling him what was going on, he had thought they were at least that close to each other. 

All of that would’ve been a mouthful to yell out, so Perospero settled for a simple, " _ What the hell is going on!? _ " 

Cracker seemed to hear his little outburst and unsurprisingly, ignored the question. "We're going to go to Amande-neesan. She told us to rendezvous with her." his little brother said it so casually that Perospero thought he was going to go as crazy as their mother. Who wouldn't when dealing with his siblings on a daily basis.

Wait, did he just say Amande?

" _She knows about this too!?_ "  No wonder she took so long to answer him on the damned den den mushi earlier. It was starting to make sense now. Oi, what was next? Katakuri going to show up too hand-in-hand with Caesar and the Straw Hats? 

The ship carrying Cracker and the others suddenly shifted course, likely to go meet Amande who was on the other side of town. 

As the ship got closer to the island, Perospero stared at Monet, who was still busy working up a blizzard. And he could've sworn he saw her actually smiling and laughing.  He was still too far to hear it for himself, but he was sure she was. He didn’t know what to think of her enjoying herself in such a situation. She was still a prisoner for candy's sake.

A loud  _ Ala modeeeeee _ shout brought Perospero's attention back to his mother. 

Scolding his younger siblings and Monet could wait, they had a bigger problem to take care of first. 

And did everyone know about this except him?!

* * *

Monet expected more hostility from the other Charlotte siblings once they reached the island, especially from the older ones. But it seemed that they were too focused on stopping their mother that they didn't mind she was helping them out.

As soon as they met up with Amande and her team, Moscato and the chefs quickly scooped up the ice cream and placed it on top of the warm brownie, drizzling it with a bit more chocolate and taking the time to make sure it was well-presented.

Monet was amazed at how carefully coordinated and diligent everyone was, and it made her wonder just how many times this has happened for them to work as robotic as they did.  Once final preparations were done, Oven carried the huge plate himself, and started running towards downtown where Big Mom was. 

That was when Monet realized it was her first time seeing Yonko up close. 

The young master was involved with Kaido sure, but they only ever discussed their business via  _ den den mushi _ . The most she saw of a Yonko would be their crew, so this was a somewhat exciting experience.

...Even if she was technically their prisoner. 

From where she was flying above a hill overlooking the town, she could already see how massive Big Mom was. Monet also saw how much damage she caused to the island.

All that… because she wanted to eat a brownie with ice cream on top? 

Were all the Yonkos this crazy? 

"Mama! Over here!" she heard Oven yell, bringing her out of her thoughts. 

Big Mom turned around, her eyes glazed and her mouth started to fill with drool as soon as she saw Oven holding the dessert. Monet felt a chill run down her spine. She couldn’t help but think that the Yonko looked like she could just gobble up anyone who came close to her. She was sure her heart was pounding fast and that somewhere on the island, Perospero could feel it.

Oven placed the dessert on the ground and took off, not wanting to get caught between his mother and her current craving.

Monet heard the massive footsteps coming from the large woman. 

"Brownieeee. Ala modeeee" her pace picked up and her arms started reaching out towards the dessert. 

As soon as her stubby hands touched the plate, she grabbed it and gobbled pieces of the brownie up, ice cream, chocolate and crumbs falling out of her mouth as she chewed. 

Everyone on the island waited as she gulped it down. Monet could hear nothing but Big Mom’s occasional chewing. She looked around and noticed how tense all of Big Mom's children seemed as well.

And then, "Mmmm, delicioussssssss!" 

The Yonko’s children started cheering as she continued to eat what was left, a content smile on her face while she started humming a little tune. 

Monet dropped down onto the ground and came face to face with Cracker. 

He surprised her when he suddenly picked her up and gave her a hug. The harpy’s eyes widened and she gasped in surprise.

"Way to go, Monet! Couldn't have done it without you!" he twirled her around.

Aside from getting a bit dizzy, she thought she was having the life squeezed out of her by how tight Cracker's grip was on her but she didn’t really care, it was better than being tortured after all. She choked out a laugh. "It was nothing." 

Cracker dropped her back onto the ground gently, that huge grin still on his face. Monet shook her wings a bit and steadied herself after that unexpected spin. She then looked around to see Cracker;s siblings were also smiling at one another. Even Brulee and Oven were at least smirking at the situation.

Before more could be said, there was a loud thud and the ground shook a bit. Looking at the source of the sudden shock, apparently it was Big Mom, who had promptly fallen asleep after finishing what was left of her dessert, a smile still present on her face and ice cream on her fingers. 

"She must've tired herself out." Moscato looked the most relieved, as it was his ice cream they were all waiting on to make it in time.

From the hill they were standing on, they saw Perospero approach their mama's sleeping form. 

He looked around before suddenly yelling, "Zeus!"

A cloud came down from above, it was huge, fluffy and Monet thought his little cap made him quite cute. Monet thought he’d look at least a bit more intimidating with a name like Zeus.

And like most of the other things in Totto Land, it could talk. 

"Oh hello, Perospero. Mama’s calmed down?" the cloud asked casually as if he just asked _so how’s it going?_

Perosporo hummed in reply. "Take Mama back to the chateau and make sure she doesn’t wake up anytime soon. I don’t think Totto Land can recover from a third Hunger Pang attack this week." 

"Okie dokie." Zeus then expanded his size big enough to carry Mama. Perospero created a smaller candy wave to carefully lift his mother up onto the cloud without waking her up. Zeus easily got under her sleeping form and started floating away like the woman weighed nothing. 

And just like that, the Yonko was carried away from Nuts island and the day was saved. 

But of course that didn’t mean Monet was saved as well. Perospero glared up at the rest of the group. 

" _ You _ ." he said in such a venomous tone that his tongue seemed to match the snake-like vibe he had going on currently. 

In a matter of seconds he created a candy wall and used that to get up to the hill his siblings and Monet were on. He made sure to glare at each one of them. 

There was a brief silence before the candy cane pointed at Cracker. “You. Talk. _ Now. _ ”

“Moscato needed help with the ice cream, Monet keeps things cool with her powers. It made perfect sense, Peros-onii you have to admit.” Cracker smiled sweetly.

Monet thought the atmosphere would be a bit more tense but she looked around and noticed how the other siblings didn’t even seem to be scared or nervous of their big brother. 

In fact, she could tell that Perospero’s threatening glare wasn’t actually threatening at all. He looked more like an annoyed kid than a furious pirate.

In the end, the eldest Charlotte son simply sighed as he crossed his arms. “We’re lucky that little idea worked as quickly as it did. Amande, the citizens of Nuts Island will remain on Whole Cake until their houses are rebuilt. Cracker and I will assist you.” 

The Minister of Nuts nodded towards her older brother. “Thank you, Peros-onii.”

While Perospero thanked everyone for helping out and how they did a good job, Monet was reminded of her own family. She remembered Lao G saying ‘ _ there’s the G! _ ’ whenever he mentioned Sugar’s name in conversation, Baby 5 ranting about her latest ‘boyfriend’, Pica-san terrorizing anyone who dared laugh at him, and, no matter how busy the family got, they always made time to sit down and have meals together. 

Seeing the Charlotte siblings brought all those memories back and she fought to hold back her tears, not wanting to show any kind of weakness especially in front of the young master's enemies. She hoped she could slip away and return to the lab while they were all busy, at least.

Moscato though noticed her standing in the back and approached her. “Thanks, Monet, we really couldn’t have done this without you! We owe you.”

She broke out of her thoughts and smiled softly. “Happy to help. I'm the one who owes your family anyway for saving my life.”

The Minister of Gelato blushed and scratched the back of his head. "You know, when you're done helping Peros-onii, you could visit Ice Island and-" 

"Oi, Moscato!" Oven suddenly yelled out, catching his younger brother's attention. "Streussen just called. He's asking you to make some more ice cream and have it delivered to Sweet City, just in case." 

Moscato nodded and looked back at Monet, sighing. "Duty calls, I'll catch you later. Thanks again!" 

As the harpy watched him walk away, she caught Perospero’s gaze. The man was busy talking to Cracker and Amande, probably about starting repairs on the island.

But as soon as their eyes locked, he excused himself from the conversation and walked towards her.

She forgot how much he towered over her the closer he got and Monet couldn’t help but feel like this was it, she’d be turned into candy and probably licked to death. What a way to go. She much preferred dying gloriously in battle back in Punk Hazard.

Monet prepared herself for the worst when-

"Thank you, for helping my family." 

It was said in such a soft and hesitant voice but Monet was able to catch it. That surprised her, but hoping to mask that sudden display of emotion, she immediately smirked. "It wasn't like I had a choice. Plus, it's hard to say no to Cracker." 

Perospero chuckled, glad to have gotten his thanks out of the way with minimal mocking on Monet's part. "Yes well, it seems we'll have to postpone our joint project again. Just for today. Brulee will bring you back to the lab and I'll see you tomorrow." 

Perospero then got a green lollipop from his hat and offered it to her. "Here, for being such a good girl." he teased. 

Monet matched his smirk, grabbing the lollipop from him and wanting to see just how far she could push her luck today. She was given many opportunities to speak her mind and be herself, why stop now? "Oh? What do I get when I'm bad, hmm?" She then popped the candy into her mouth. 

Perospero  _ choked _ .

Cracker and Oven gasped behind him. Amande sighed.

There was a very long and awkward pause before the Minister of Candy cleared his throat, as if trying to regain his composure before replying. It was amusing to watch. "Well, I uhm, that's, you… You’ll stay in Mont-d'Or's library as a prisoner…?" 

Monet stopped herself from giggling, the lollipop still in her mouth. 

From over Perospero's shoulder, she saw Oven twitch and Cracker shake his head in disappointment.

Perospero still looked very confused and so socially awkward but before more could be said, Brulee approached them and pushed Monet away. "We best get going, we’ve all had a long day." 

As Brulee pushed her towards the town where she assumed they'd find a mirror, she heard Cracker and Perospero talking. 

"Peros-onii…  _ why _ ?" 

"Shut up, Cracker!" 


	6. Early morning drama

Ever since Big Mom's last Hunger Pangs attack, each island in Totto Land was working harder than ever to make sure they had enough ingredients and dishes on hand, just in case. 

Monet and Perospero were also finally able to start renovations on the lab, even though it’d only be for a few hours a day since Perospero, as he so loved saying, ‘ _ is very busy with other serious matters that need the attention of Big Mom’s firstborn. _ ’. 

Often he'd be gone for 2 or 3 days at a time and it was during those ‘breaks’ that Monet busied herself with reading the latest news and current events of the New World. Thankfully after what happened with Big Mom on Nuts Island, more of the Charlotte siblings were friendlier towards her and allowed her some more privileges as a captive.

Opera even asked Mont-d’Or to let her have a copy of the daily papers so she could at least stay current. The Minister of Cheese was less than thrilled at first but one stern look from his Sweet Commander older brother Cracker finally persuaded him.

Ever since, Monet was hoping to catch something about Dressrosa from the papers but so far none came. Her heart broke a bit every time she didn’t read anything about her home, as she worried more and more over her family. But hey, no news was good news. 

Right?

She was sitting in the surveillance room and decided to distract-er,  _ busy _ herself by browsing through some of the renovations she and Perospero were yet to do. The room became her default place of work, just as its original counterpart used to be on Punk Hazard. That made it easier for anyone to find her when they decided to drop by.

Monet was going through her notes when she noticed movement from the screens. She didn’t pay it much mind, thinking that it was probably Perospero who finally decided to grace her with his presence. 

She heard the lift stop at her floor and footsteps approaching. Monet kept her eyes on her notes, not bothering to look up at the visitor. “So, what kept the great Minister of Candy busy this time?” 

“Oh uhm, it’s me, Monet-san.” 

That wasn’t Perospero.

Monet finally lifted her head and turned around to see who it was.

“Moscato?” The last she saw of him, it was back on Nuts Island. She was a bit confused as to what his purpose was in visiting, though. The Minister of Gelato smiled sheepishly and waved at her, his other arm seemed to be holding something behind his back.

“The Homies told me where I could find you.” 

Perospero mentioned what Homies were, and Monet figured that Moscato was talking about the chess soldiers who’d bring her food. She waited for Moscato to continue as he took small steps towards her.

“I-I brought this for you, you see.” He revealed what he was hiding behind his back.

It was an assortment of gelato and milkshakes and each piece looked so different with all the toppings and syrups. Monet could even feel the cold from the desserts from where she was standing.

Moscato smiled as he brought the tray down on the candy table Perospero made. “I wasn’t sure which flavor you liked so I went ahead and brought a bunch for you to try.”

She cracked a smile herself. “I can see that. Any reason as to why you’re offering me such delicious treats?”

“We never got to properly thank you for helping us. So think of this as a token of my gratitude.” The man in front of her seemed to blush.

Monet then used her wings to pick up a spoon and a cup of what looked like strawberry gelato with chocolate syrup on top. She took a bite out of it and instantly felt the cool creamy texture mixing with the warmth of the apparently hot chocolate syrup. It went down her throat so smoothly and like most of the food she’s had in Totto Land, it was perfect. 

However, as Monet stared at it and the other desserts Moscato brought her, she realized they lacked the  _ presentation _ she was used to. 

Everytime Perospero brought her food, it always seemed to be full of personality aside from already being absolutely delicious. Even the candies he would sometimes offer her were intricately decorated, as if each one was a masterpiece. 

Monet figured that all Charlotte siblings would be as grand with food as Perospero was, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“How was it?” Moscato’s voice was soft and hopeful, albeit also nervous.

Monet gulped down the rest of the ice cream still in her mouth before smiling at him. “Delicious! I didn’t expect anything less from a Charlotte.”

“R-really? I’m glad!” Moscato visibly relaxed. Monet had no idea how nervous he actually was.

“Yes, but there’s so much I don’t think I can finish this all myself.” Monet gestured to the rest of the desserts, there were still a  _ lot  _ of frozen treats. 

Moscato laughed as he looked at his creations. “Oh that’s fine! I can just leave these here, I’m sure you have a refrigerator you can keep them in so you can have one anytime!”

Monet couldn’t help but find him very kind and sweet. Among the Charlottes she’s met, there were a few like Cracker that she considered a friend. Even Brulee kind of warmed up to Monet and started spending time in the lab with her just to pass the time. 

Once when Perospero was busy, the two women even pranked Mont-d’Or by having Monet stay in Mirroworld for a whole day. He thought the harpy found a way to escape and the Minister of Cheese had half of his forces searching for her before Perospero could find out. Brulee finally felt sorry for her little brother and told him that Monet was in the Seducing Woods with her the whole time, helping her tend to the forest. 

Mont-d’Or was close to tearing his hair out when he finally collapsed from exhaustion. Brulee and Monet laughed about the whole thing and the harpy realized just how much she appreciated having friendly faces in unfamiliar territory, especially after the welcome Galette gave her.

Moscato coughed, bringing Monet back to the present. “So, what’s on your plate today? I mean, figuratively like what are you doing today, not literally because it’s the dessert that’s currently on… your plate, or in your cup I guess… for today." He realized too late that he was rambling and his voice got softer as he forced himself to finish the sentence.

Monet didn’t mind though, glad to have someone to talk to. “Hmm, well I actually-”

“She’ll be busy working with me.”

The two turned towards the entrance and saw Perospero. His arms crossed as he walked towards them, and he looked rather annoyed, glaring daggers at Monet and Moscato. 

Moscato though either didn’t mind or didn’t notice, smiling at Perospero as he approached. “Oh, Peros-onii! I thought you were helping Compote-neesan with something on Fruits Island.” 

The eldest Charlotte son simply shrugged. “I was, yes, but the work's done and so now I’m here. What about you? What business do you have with our guest?” Perospero stared down at the other man, his rather calm tone masking the irritation Monet could feel coming from him. 

Suddenly the room got a lot colder, and not just from the ice cream. Honestly it was too early for Monet to be dealing with whatever drama was going on. But she had to admit that she was curious why he was acting the way he was, from what Monet's observed so far, Perospero usually wasn’t so hostile towards his siblings.

To Moscato’s credit, he kept up his cheery attitude. “Oh, I just wanted to give Monet something for helping us out back on Nuts Island. I’ll have to head to Stressen’s in a while though, it seems he’s still traumatized that we won’t have enough ice cream by the time Mama craves for it again.” He looked back at the green-haired woman and smiled. “I’ll see you again some other time, then. Enjoy the rest of the dessert!” 

As soon as Moscato took the lift down, Monet and Perospero turned to the monitors to watch him walk away until he was out the front doors.

Once they watched the doors of the front entrance closed behind Moscato, Perospero glanced at the tray of gelato beside Monet. “Are those the desserts my brother was talking about?” 

Monet nodded and couldn’t help but laugh, still so shocked at just how much there was, like it was meant for a birthday party and not for her own consumption. “Oh yes. He left behind quite a lot, didn’t he?”

“I see you’ve had some already. How was it?” 

Monet hummed remembering the strawberry gelato she tried earlier. “It was delicious, much like every dish I’ve tasted in Totto Land.” 

“Is that so?” Perospero continued to stare at the various gelato like they were offending him somehow.

Monet figured that Perospero was hurt over her complimenting someone else’s food, especially when he took great pride in his own creations. She knew she had to cheer him up if they were ever going to get through the day. 

Monet smirked inwardly, she might as well have fun with how she was going to get him in a good mood.

“But I’ll be honest, it wasn’t as…  _ artistic _ as the food I’ve gotten used to.”

As expected, that seemed to get his attention. 

Perospero lifted his head from the cold desserts and faced Monet, his eyes seemed cautious and there was a flash of some other emotion she wasn’t sure of. “Oh?” 

"Mm-hmm. It also wasn’t as sweet as certain  _ candies _ I’ve tried.” Monet looked as nonchalant as she could. 

Perospero on the other hand was much more smug now, but Monet could tell that he also looked… relieved? “Hmph, what can I say?”

Monet found this as the perfect opportunity to have her fun. She moved closer and because of their height difference, she had to crane her neck to look up at Perospero. But it would be worth it to see the look on his face once she said,

“Yours is  _ much _ bigger and yummier.” she purposefully smiled the most innocent smile she could muster.

Perospero gasped and immediately backed away, which wasn’t much since he was already stuck between Monet and the control panel, his back colliding with the metal surface. He started blushing like crazy and Monet had to hold back her laugh. 

Perospero looked so scandalized, the red on his face both from embarrassment and fury. “Why must you always do that?”

Monet shrugged. “What do you mean? Your candy creations are bigger and yummier, honest! Why? What were  _ you _ thinking of?"

He groaned in exasperation, “You just love annoying me, don’t you?” 

“Not my fault your mind’s always in the gutter.” Seeing how tense he was from his personal space being invaded, Monet finally felt sorry for him and stepped back.

Perospero just sighed in frustration, glaring down at her as he straightened his posture after leaning uncomfortably on the control panel. 

Ever since that first time Monet teased him on Nuts Island, it sort of became a normal thing between the two of them. Monet would make some double entendre and Perospero would be so shocked at whatever it was.

Usually the jokes were made when it was just the two of them but sometimes when Cracker passed by the lab, the sweet commander would set up the joke and Monet would finish the punch line. Perospero’s face would get so red and his little brother was left practically in stitches. 

The times Perospero tried to avoid Monet's teasing were even better. 

Most of the time it wouldn’t even make sense like when they were fixing up one of the vents and Monet joked about how maybe he should stick his candy cane into it. Perospero said something like ‘ _ Nice try but my candy cane’s too big and couldn’t possibly fit into something so tight _ .’

He realized too late what his mistake was and it took everything in Monet to not holler at how hilarious the whole thing was. She told Cracker the next day and he regretted not being there to record the glorious moment. 

After the repairs on Nuts Island were done and Monet finally started working with Perospero, she thought that it’d be a boring and/or horrible experience. But she hated to admit that it ended up being something she looked forward to.

At first it was monotonous work, Perospero would simply ask her about a room, she’d tell him what its use was, and then renovations would start. It was all so very dull that she actually started to miss Caesar. At least when she was still working for him, she was allowed to go out and explore the island on her own whenever she wanted, especially when he had those  _ party girls _ of his over.

Then days later, Perospero started making small talk with her, asking her if breakfast was good, or if she needed anything for herself in the lab. What caught her even more off guard was when the Homies started serving her coffee in the morning after she told Perospero that she missed having that particular beverage. She didn’t even ask for it, she just mentioned it in passing to him that she used to drink it a lot considering how cold the lab on Punk Hazard was. 

Perospero had his ‘evil pirate’ moments, sure. He was still a jerk, and made jokes about her and the Donquixote family just to get under her skin, but there was one important detail Monet noticed whenever he threatened her. 

_ He never once hurt her by using her heart. _

He made jokes about it sure, even sometimes taking it out of his coat and bouncing it around, wondering out loud how squishy it could be.

Yet he never went through with actually squeezing it.

That moment on Nuts Island when she teased him in front of all his siblings, she thought he was going to use it for sure, like Galette did when Monet talked back in the library. 

So Monet was genuinely surprised when all Perospero did that time was get embarrassed, not even angry, just a little irritated.

She still couldn’t trust him of course but the playful banter and the lack of actual heart-squeezing put her at ease and made it more tolerable to work with him.

“By the way...”

Monet looked up at Perospero, snapping out of her thoughts and noticed that he looked more serious now compared to how flustered he was earlier.

Perospero was looking for something in his coat and Monet thought it’d be her heart again. Just because she was almost sure he wouldn’t hurt her, didn’t mean she didn’t tense up everytime she saw someone basically holding her life in their hands. Perospero noticed the little flash of concern in her eyes as he rifled through his coat.

He grinned at her. “Not to worry, my dear, it’s not your heart but it’s probably something that’ll cause just as much distress.”

That was… disconcerting. When Perospero finally took out a rolled up newspaper, Monet was puzzled. Come to think of it, it was still early and the Homies hadn’t brought her the paper that morning.

He handed it to her. “This came in earlier today and I thought you should know.”

Monet grabbed the paper from him hesitantly and wasted no time in opening it up. 

The first thing she noticed was Doflamingo’s all-too familiar grinning face in front. 

Then she read the headline and her eyes widened in horror and her blood ran cold as her world seemed to stop. Both her wings and her legs started to shake as she let the newspaper fall to the ground, but the words just seemed to menacingly glare back at her from where it landed on the floor.

**Donquixote Doflamingo resigns from the Shichibukai**

“I, I don’t understand. Why would he...?” Everything seemed so out of focus and Monet was surprised at how she was still able to get that question out, considering how shaken up she was. 

Doffy would never do anything to compromise his position as a renowned pirate, especially by resigning from the Shichibukai. Did Kaido threaten him? Did the Marines? Did the Straw Hats?

_ Oh no. _

_ Was it her fault for screwing up on Punk Hazard? _

Flashes of Doffy and the others suffering were going through her mind and they looked so disappointed in her and-

“Calm down, my dear.” Apparently her panic was very evident as Perospero continued to watch her reactions. Monet found it difficult to stare up at him, what with her breathing shallow and her head spinning. 

Perospero’s voice kept her brain from thinking up crazy scenarios, at least. He continued speaking, “We received word from our agents in Dressrosa that CP-0 personally addressed the citizens earlier this morning that this was a lie and Doflamingo is still a member of the Shichibukai."

Monet knew that she should’ve calmed down a bit at that - if it were true - but at this point, she wasn’t sure how to properly process information anymore. “W-what? But why would Doffy do… all of that?”

Perospero looked down at the newspaper on the floor before turning back to her. “We think Trafalgar Law and Straw Hat Luffy have something to do with it. We don’t yet know what it is they’re planning exactly, but we’re pretty sure they caused all this.” 

She still felt so cold, as if this was somehow her fault. Her fault for not being able to stop the Straw Hats, her fault for letting Caesar get caught, and her fault for not even being good enough to sacrifice herself for her family when all else failed.

If something happened to Sugar because of her…

_ If her baby sister got hurt because of her… _

Perospero scoffing brought her back to her senses. “You don’t actually think Donquixote Doflamingo is going to lose to a bunch of brats, do you?”

She didn’t trust herself to talk without shaking, and had a feeling Perospero wasn’t done with… whatever he was trying to say.

“Joker will stop the Straw Hats from causing anymore trouble in the New World and Mama will have Caesar. End of story.” he said it as if everything were that simple.

She wanted to tell him that if only beating the Straw Hats was as easy as he thought it would be. She’d never forget the chaos that happened the day they walked into her life. How in one day, they managed to ruin years worth of the young master’s operations.

Monet shook her head, not wanting to remember her encounter with a particular green-haired swordsman. “They should’ve died back on Punk Hazard.” Her voice finally obeyed her by getting that out without a shred of shakiness in it.

“ _ Kukuku _ , Caesar isn’t exactly known for his fighting skills. All of you underestimated the Straw Hats, plus they had that Vice Admiral Smoker and the G-5 helping them out. Their luck will run out eventually and they’ll be another failed crew who just couldn’t cut it in the New World.”

Monet wasn’t at all convinced but part of her truly wanted to believe that Perospero was right. Doffy was the rightful future King of Pirates, not some rubber boy from the East Blue with his demon right hand man with the 3 swords. 

Monet shook those thoughts away, steering away from remembering the numbing pain of being cut into two and being too frightened to turn back into normal. Instead, she blocked that memory by thinking of her family. 

“Well, the young master’s been doing this since before Straw Hat Luffy was even born. I doubt they stand a chance against him or the other executives” 

“Besides, just because they beat you, doesn’t mean they’ll beat your captain, he’s levels above all of you,  _ kukuku _ !”

Monet rolled her eyes. Though he did end up teasing her, she still wanted to thank him for somehow making her feel better in his own way.

So she teased him back, “And when the young master is done with them, he and Kaido will probably come after the Big Mom Pirates next.”

Perospero simply laughed. "They can certainly try. And when they do, I'll turn them into candy and lick them to death." 

Monet stopped herself from saying anything. She could at least let that one comment slide as a show of gratitude. Even if she so badly wanted to mock him for saying  _ ‘lick them’ _ .

Perospero wasn't aware of Monet’s internal struggle and carried on with looking at the notes she left on the control panel. “If you're well enough to continue, I only have a few hours to spend on the lab today before Mama needs me for something else."

So many emotions and so much information came rushing in such a short amount of time that Monet wasn't sure if she wanted to lie down for the rest of the day or distract herself by working. She stared at Perospero who was too busy going over her notes. 

It was only then that Monet realized what he said, ‘ _ if you’re well enough to continue _ ’. He didn’t make any snide remarks like how she should be thankful he made the time for her or that she should get over herself and get to work.  _ He was giving her a choice. _

Suddenly spending the rest of the already crazy day with Perospero didn’t seem so bad.

Monet took a deep breath before smiling at her partner. "Yes, actually I have a few ideas for the second floor." 

Just like that, they were back to work and Monet forgot all about the gelato and milkshakes that were already melting onto the discarded newspaper.

* * *

"Cracker-sama, Cracker-sama!"

The Minister of Biscuits was just about to turn in for the night when a soldier came running towards him.

"What is it?" Cracker was already so tired from listening to Mont-d’Or rant about whatever his obsession was for the day. He was in no mood to move another muscle til he got a good night’s sleep thank you very much.

The soldier didn’t notice the sweet commander’s disdain as he was too busy trying to steady his breathing after running to catch up to Cracker. "We received word from our scouts in Dressrosa and… Straw Hat Luffy did it, he beat Donquixote Doflamingo!" 

Cracker could only blink. He wasn’t asleep yet, right? This wasn’t a dream? He even pinched himself just to be sure, much to the confusion of the soldier in front of him.

Nope, he was awake. 

Well then, the only question was-

Who was going to tell Monet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's not forget that Luffy basically beat Doflamingo in a day so I had that be part of this story. Ahhh I'm so excited to start the next few parts of this fic! Thanks to everyone who leave kudos and comments, it really helps keep me going <3 <3


	7. Smiles and family ties

Perospero was on the way to the lab, still figuring out the best way to tell Monet what Cracker had told him.

_ Straw Hat Luffy defeated Donquixote Doflamingo. _

At first Perospero asked Cracker why tell him first and not go straight to Monet? To which Cracker simply replied “Do you want me to tell her instead?” Perospero immediately decided that no, no he did not. 

Cracker only smirked, telling his older brother that he’d be fine with however Perospero wanted to play it out, he always was good at managing crises. 

And he was.

The first thing he did was inform the Homies not to bring Monet the newspaper that morning. He didn't want her to find out by reading what would probably be an overly-exaggerated headline that Morgans personally crafted. Perospero could only imagine the look on that stupid bird’s face as soon as word from Dressrosa reached him.

The next thing on his checklist was clearing his schedule to be with Monet in the lab. Perospero decided to give his duties for the day to Compote and after explaining the situation to her, she simply smiled at him and told her older brother not to worry and to take his time. 

Perospero was standing by the lab’s entrance now, still running over different scenarios in his mind on how he’d tell Monet the news. Almost everyone of them ended with her crying and/or attempting to escape. He planned for that as well. 

He visited the Seducing Woods earlier that morning and told the Homies there to notify Brulee immediately if they see a “green-haired harpy” flying around. He also ordered the soldiers patrolling Whole Cake that if they saw any sign of Monet leaving the lab, they would tell him and not Mont-d’Or.

Once everything was in order, it was only then that Perospero realized one small thing.

Why was he stressing over this so much? 

Monet was technically an  _ enemy _ . She's part of the Donquixote family, a pirate group that sided with Kaido, one of Mama's biggest rivals. He should be thrilled that a major player in the New World had been taken down. 

_ So why was he going through all this trouble for her? _

As he stood in front of the lab’s entrance, he told himself that there was no turning back. Of course, obviously he could literally turn around then and there, walk away and have someone else deal with the situation. But that option didn’t sit well with him.

Perospero took a few deep breaths, clenched his fists, then finally opened the steel doors. Hearing nothing but his footsteps on the metal floor as he made his way to the lift didn’t help soothe his anxiety.

With a push of the button on the lift and a few more seconds of walking and waiting, he arrived at the surveillance room. And there was Monet by the control panel, sitting on her chair while reading through that notebook of hers.

As Perospero got closer, Monet looked up and smiled at him. He felt his chest tighten at that sight.

“I didn’t think you’d be working here today.” Monet stood from her seat, setting her notebook down.

“I gave my duties today to Compote.” Perospero gripped his candy cane tight, bracing himself for what was to come.

He was distracted when Monet smirked at him. Perospero’s breath hitched as it dawned on him that he’d come to look forward to those smiles and smirks of her. It  _ really _ wasn’t the time to be thinking of that, however.

“I’m honored to have the Minister of Candy grace me with his presence then.” Monet’s voice oozed with sarcasm yet he could tell that she was still appreciative. 

Perospero chuckled but he could tell sounded hollow.

She noticed it as well. “What’s wrong? Usually you’d be ranting how it really  _ is _ an honor to have you here.” To his surprise, she didn’t sound angry, just curious. Dare he think maybe even a tad bit concerned?

Either way, there was no avoiding it now. 

He collected his thoughts, and hoped for the best. “Last night, we heard from our agents in Dressrosa.” 

A pause, and a deep breath before he continued, “Doflamingo lost to Straw Hat Luffy. The Marines will be transporting the now former Shichibukai to Impel Down in a few days.”

There, it was done. Now to wait...

Time seemed to stop as he held Monet’s gaze. Perospero noticed that her eyes looked glassy, her body started shaking, and he could even feel her heartbeat quicken from where it was in his coat.

It seemed like minutes had passed before Monet finally found her voice.

“What?” her voice was so soft that if Perospero wasn’t looking at her, he would’ve missed it.

He sighed, bracing himself for tears, screams or however she’d react. “Do you really need me to repeat myself?”

Monet walked closer to him and he noticed how shaky her legs were. “This, this is a joke too, right? Some kind of trick to throw off his enemies?” she sounded so hopeful, looking up at him while obviously holding back tears.

Perospero’s shoulders dropped and he shook his head, hoping that was all Monet needed as an answer. Thankfully, it was.

Her breathing got much quicker, same with her heartbeat that he could feel in his coat. Monet had yet to cry but her eyes seemed unfocused, like she was about to have another panic attack. 

"But he…. how did the Straw Hats… Did Law… All those years we worked…" Monet was rambling, gasping and holding back sobs in between sentences. 

He heard her mumble something then she quickly closed the space between them. Perospero felt his own breathing quicken from how close she was to him now. “Do you… do you know what happened to the other Donquixote pirates?” 

He did. 

And this part he wouldn’t tell her, that he requested for that information as soon as he heard the news. It was another thing on his checklist before going to the lab.  Perospero knew that Monet regarded those people as her family, and as someone with strong family bonds himself, he understood that she'd want to hear how they were doing. 

"All but one were arrested. Someone named Baby 5 allied herself with the Straw Hats while the others are on their way to Impel Down as well… except for one other girl." 

Monet's eyes widened. She didn't say anything though so Perospero continued. "A little girl named Sugar is on a different Marine ship, she’s being brought to a special center for juvenile delinquents as she's too young to be sent to Impel Down.”

“Do you know where that special center is? Or what ship she’s on?” Monet practically clung onto his coat, as if her eyes were desperately searching his for answers.

Perospero did all he could to make sure his own breathing was steady, afraid at how she’d take his answer. “No, we don’t.”

She let out a sort of gasp, willing herself not to whimper. “Can you, though? With how great your family’s connections are, that’s something you can find out? Right?”

Perospero knew he should’ve gotten angry at her for that, or at least remind her that wasn’t something a prisoner typically asked of their captors. To actually  _ demand _ something like that from  _ him _ of all people, it didn’t seem right.

Yet he found himself not caring. “Yes, it should be easy enough.”

There was that smile of hers, once again doing...  _ things _ to him. “Thank you.”

He thanked his brain for not letting that wonderful expression of hers distract him. He still needed to ask, “Why?”

There was a pause where Monet’s smile was instantly replaced with a frown and she turned her head to the side, refusing to look at him. A crazy part of him wanted to reach out, cup her cheek and gently bring her to face him again.

He was halfway to convincing himself to do it when Monet finally looked back up at him. “She’s my little sister.”

Perospero didn’t know why he immediately remembered that time Brulee's face got cut when she was a kid. The memories of the pain he felt as her older brother, how he didn’t do anything to the bullies and let Katakuri handle it all by himself, it all came rushing back. 

He remembered how he decided to stay with Brulee instead as the doctors stitched her scar up. Perospero will never forget how strong his little sister was as she held back tears throughout the whole thing, refusing to show how much it actually hurt. He remembered how he could do nothing but hold Brulee's hand as he reassured her that her older brothers would never let anything bad happen to her again.

“Perospero…”

The eldest Charlotte son was brought back to the present as his heart skipped a beat. He realized that was the first time Monet actually said his name. 

He tried to control his breathing when he saw how close her body was to his. From this distance and as he chanced to look into her eyes, he noticed that she was still clearly holding back tears.

“I know I’m technically a prisoner here but please, let me save my sister. I don't want to lose her…” she sounded so desperate, yet also very determined.

A little Katakuri and Brulee flashed in his mind again. 

Then he knew what he had to do. He focused back on Monet. “No.” 

Monet looked like she was about to scream and stir up a blizzard in an instant. 

But Perospero simply said, “We’ll save her for you.”

* * *

Perospero didn’t think he could leave Totto Land himself, Mama wouldn’t allow it and he didn’t want any of his siblings to cover for him and possibly suffer their mother’s wrath. 

No, he had to find someone else to help him out. He was currently standing out in the hallway holding a  _ den den mushi _ . He left Monet alone in the surveillance room after he told her he needed to make some calls. The girl didn’t say anything when he left, still too distraught over her little sister. 

Again, he knew the feeling.

The information on Sugar's whereabouts was easy enough to come by. He called an agent in Dressrosa who was then able to sneak into the Marines’ camp and learn the route Sugar's ship would take. 

All Perospero needed to do now was find out which of their own soldiers were closest enough to the said route and wouldn’t mind this little side trip to raid a Marine ship.

Tamago was in charge of assigning missions outside of Totto Land so he was the next person Perospero called up.

“ _ Perospero-sama? What can I do for you today _ ?” Tamago sounded surprised. To be fair, it wasn’t everyday that the eldest Charlotte son involved himself in matters outside of Totto Land.

“Who do we have searching for Caesar Clown?” Perospero thought it best to mention the scientist as he was the reason many of their forces were gathered near Dressrosa in the first place.

“ _ Last I heard, Bege and Pekoms were still chasing him and are on their way to Zou. By the way, apparently there’s someone else from the Straw Hats Mama is interested in… _ ”

Perospero’d come back to that detail later. One problem at a time. “Who else?”

“ _ Oh uhm, that’s all sir. They took the  _ Queen Mama Chanter  _ so most of our forces are with them already _ .”

Perospero was getting impatient, already thinking of using a Candy Slug to get to the damned ship himself if he had to. “Who else is out on a mission now near Dressrosa?” 

He basically snarled out the question but to Tamago’s credit, the man on the other line remained calm. “ _ Randolph and Crane were sent to retrieve some ingredients for Streussen somewhere nearby. I believe they’re about done as well _ .”

Finally some good news. “Excellent! I need them to raid a Marine ship and recover a girl. Here are the details-”

“ _ What!? _ ” 

Perospero ignored the other man’s surprised  _ squawk  _ and relayed the necessary information.

* * *

Perospero appreciated that Tamago didn’t have many questions about this particular request. All he asked was if the Marine forces involved required sending back-up to Randolph and Crane. 

Luckily, all the higher-ranked Marine officers were on their way to Impel Down with Doflamingo. It was no wonder there was practically a fleet escorting the former Dressora ruler, Kaido would most likely send someone to retrieve his SMILE supplier and the Marines needed as many soldiers as possible on standby.

Plus, as Perospero learned from their Dressrosa agents, this Sugar girl was apparently only ten years old and the soft-hearted Marines thought she just ended up in a bad crowd, that guarding her didn’t require much. 

And that would be their downfall.

After coordinating everything with Tamago and making sure Randolph and Crane were informed of their new assignment, Perospero headed back into the surveillance room. He saw Monet sitting by the control panel again and just clicking through the different video feeds in a rather robotic way.

Perospero noticed the food he had the Homies send to her while he was out making calls was left untouched as well, still on the candy table. 

Perospero approached her slowly, not wanting to startle her. “I’m back.”

Monet quickly swirled her chair around to face him. “Well? Did you find out where she is? Is she ok?”

“We have a team out searching for her now, they should be back here with your sister in no time.”

Monet’s body visibly relaxed and she smiled softly up at him. “Thank you.”

Perospero’s chest tightened again and it was getting harder and harder to ignore, what with her smiling like that all the damned time at him.

He decided to focus the conversation elsewhere and gestured to the food. “Eat up, I cleared my schedule today to spend time with you in the lab so you best believe we’re getting work done. You’ll need your energy for that.”

“You did what?” Monet sounded confused as she continued to stare at him, the sadness from her eyes momentarily gone.

“Why is it that I must always repeat myself with you?” Honestly if it were anybody else, Perospero would’ve already turned them into candy.

“You cleared up your schedule today... to be in the lab?” He had to admit that she looked quite adorable, looking like she was trying to solve a great mystery.

“You’re starting to sound like a parrot, my dear.”

Monet didn’t seem bothered by this comment though, as she was still concentrating on solving something, whatever it was. “Did you ask Compote to take over your duties today so you could spend time with me?”

He stiffened up, he didn’t like where this was going…. “What are you getting at?” 

Then there she was smiling at him again, and this one made her look rather mischievous. “You wanted to tell me what happened in Dressrosa yourself, didn’t you? That’s why I didn’t get a copy of the newspaper earlier.”

Perospero snarled but deep inside he was getting nervous, like how he usually got when Monet made those dirty jokes of hers. “So? I helped you, didn’t I?”

“Yes but if you didn’t want me to find out through the papers, you could’ve just sent a Homie or someone else to tell me, then I probably would’ve gone to Cracker or Moscato for help.”

He clenched his fists at that. 

He didn’t know why it bothered him that she’d even think to go to someone else for help with this problem. What could  _ Moscato _ do? She’d have better luck getting friggin’ Kingbaum to help her than his little brother. Perospero was much more relieved now knowing that he told her himself.

Monet stood from her chair and approached him. “And after all you’ve already done to help today, you still want to spend some more time in the lab with me?”

Now that she was so close again, Perospero could see her eyes were actually a bit puffy, she must’ve cried while he was out making calls. 

Not that he cared that she cried. No, nothing like that.

Perospero turned his head away, afraid of what her eyes were doing to him. “I could just leave now if you prefer, my dear. I do have other things that demand my attention.”

He felt her wing grab his arm and he had to look at her then. 

That was a mistake.

Her smile now was different from all the others he’d seen from her so far. It wasn’t sarcastic, teasing, sad, forced or just for the sake of being polite. This one seemed so genuine and looked like it was reserved only for special moments, special  _ people _ . 

It was  _ dazzling _ .

Perospero didn’t know if the heartbeat he was feeling was hers or his own, either way it started beating quickly as soon as she touched his hand and he gazed at that smile. 

To make matters worse, or better, he wasn’t quite sure yet, Monet honest-to-goodness  _ giggled _ and that sound had Perospero _ feeling things _ again. He felt a chill down his spine, butterflies in his stomach and a lump in his throat. Just  _ what _ happened? All of that? From her  _ giggling _ ?

Perospero pulled away from his thoughts to catch Monet speaking to him again. “I have a few ideas for some of the rooms. Let me finish my food and we can get started, hmm?”

Perospero gulped, nervous that the slightest mistake would ruin whatever spell had fallen between them. “S-sure. You should eat up before it gets cold.”

Monet _ giggled again _ before letting go of his arm and turning back to sit on her chair, rolling it towards the candy table. Perospero watched as she ate rather quickly. It was no wonder, after the exhausting emotional rollercoaster she’d been through that day, he couldn’t blame her.

As she was busy eating, the Minister of Candy took the opportunity to dig through his coat to find her heart. Once he felt it touch his fingers, he noticed that the beating was normal. Strange.

Then, he crossed his arms to hide the fact that he was feeling for his own heartbeat next. 

He was surprised to find that it was beating quite fast. Interesting.

Obviously he knew it had something to do with Monet and those smiles of hers and the way she said his name earlier. But rather than confront it now, he decided to instead distract himself, er,  _ focus himself _ on the day’s renovation.

Monet was still busy eating when she noticed Perospero looking at the screens. “By the way, one of your siblings dropped by yesterday after you left.” 

Perospero instantly thought of Moscato possibly going back to check if Monet had finished those sorry excuses for dessert. The Minister of Candy remembered how smug he felt when he passed by the surveillance room later that same day after work was done and noticed the ice cream his little brother gave was melting onto the floor.

Monet felt bad about forgetting Moscato’s gifts but Perospero told her not to worry as he ordered the Homies to clean up the mess. 

“Who was it?” Perospero asked, half-hoping it was a disappointed Moscato and not Cracker trying to slack off again.

“Uhm… Katakuri.”

Ok...

_ That _ one he didn’t see coming. “What was he doing here?”

Monet simply shrugged as she finished up her meal. “I asked if he was looking for you or Cracker or one of your other siblings but he told me that he wanted to see me.”

“And?” Perospero was even more perplexed, Katakuri didn’t come to Whole Cake Island a lot, and the few times he did, it was to visit the chateau and directly report to Mama. 

“And nothing, he just kind of… stared at me and left.”

That was odd. Perospero made a mental note to ask Brulee about it, maybe she’d know something as she was the closest to their donut-loving brother. 

Perospero hummed. “Katakuri’s always been very mysterious but he means well. I wouldn’t worry about it.” 

It was true. Katakuri had nothing but the best intentions for his family, it was a shame though how their younger siblings saw him more as an indestructible force of nature with seemingly no weaknesses.

Perospero couldn’t even begin to imagine the kind of burden Katakuri had on his shoulders. Smoothie and Cracker could at least smile and joke around with everyone, unlike the older sweet commander.

Monet took a sip of orange juice. “Oh, I’m not worried. He didn’t seem like he was angry at me, just… curious.” 

Perospero was about to ask her more when Monet suddenly jumped from her seat and stared at him expectantly. “I’m done eating, can I have some candy now?”

He had no idea how many times Monet had caught him off guard today. “Why?”

“I finished my meal and I want dessert now.” she had the audacity to sound so casual about it, too.

“And you think I’m going to hand you candy just like that?” Perospero was intrigued with where this was going, but he was at least going to put up a fight

Then there was the smirk from her that he liked seeing. “Why not? Don’t tell me you’re losing your touch in creating candy? Maybe lost your inspiration? Fine, I should go ask one of your other brothers for-”

With a flick of his wrist, a statue appeared in front of them in an instant.

Monet looked down at the object and her jaw dropped when she realized it was a candy replica of the Dressrosa palace. It was artistically crafted, intricately detailed and most especially, smelled delicious.

“Wow...” Monet continued to stare at the candy creation, admiring it to the fullest, her eyes scanning over all the little details that she probably remembered from her time in its real-life counterpart.

The look of pure awe on Monet’s face was enough to boost his ego. “ _Kukuku_ , what was that about me ‘ _ losing my touch _ ’?.”

He knew she was just teasing him earlier when she said that, but he was never one to back down from a challenge. And it was worth it to see the look on her face once she basked in the glory of his latest creation. It reminded him of the look she had when she first arrived at the Punk Hazard lab replica. 

He couldn’t help but feel smug for being able to get such a reaction from her twice already. Sure he was used to people admiring and gawking at his many masterpieces, but because it was simply  _ her _ , it was different.

He was still confused as to  _ why _ it was different but he’d think about that more some other time.

Monet was still busy studying the candy replica. “I can’t possibly eat something as marvelous as this.” All of a sudden her wings flapped, she flew up above his head and grabbed a lollipop from his hat. “This’ll do.” Monet popped the green candy into her mouth.

“O-oi!” Perospero yelled out, trying to reach for her as she continued flying around the room. 

It seemed they were back to their usual playful banter but Perospero knew that something had changed between them. He felt like he was entering new and dangerous territory.

And he didn’t want to turn back.

* * *

Even though she had seastone cuffs on and was basically on her way to prison, it wasn’t as bad as Sugar thought it would be.

The Marines were friendly towards her and they even gave her lots of grapes when she asked for them. They didn’t tell her what happened to the other executives and the young master, but she assumed she wouldn’t be seeing them for a while.

Sugar was in her cabin eating grapes as usual when she heard a scream coming from outside.

She immediately tried to assess what was happening from where she was sitting on the bed. The ship wasn’t rocking so no cannons were being fired, but the screams continued and she could even hear the clashing of swords.

Maybe the young master freed himself and was on his way to rescue her? Maybe Kaido ordered his subordinates to retrieve not just Joker but the rest of his crew as well?

Sugar dared to think that maybe it could even be her big sister…

Suddenly the screaming stopped and it got eerily quiet. Sugar could only hope it was a friend and not a foe. The young master did still have his fair share of enemies, and she knew there was also the possibility that there’d be a lot of  _ ex-toys _ after her. 

The door to her cabin opened slowly and she waited to see who it was, gripping her bowl of grapes a bit harder.

But when she saw a rabbit with a sword that kind of reminded her of that blonde pretty boy swordsman from Dressrosa, she was stunned.

“Sugar, I presume? We’ve come to save you.” Ok, it was a  _ talking  _ rabbit riding a crane.

“Perospero-sama and Monet-san are waiting for you.” Oh, a talking rabbit riding a  _ talking _ crane. Could they be some weird experiments leftover from Punk Hazard? If they were, they might be friends of Caesar and Doffy or-

Wait a minute.

Did that talking crane just say  _ Monet _ ?

The rabbit hopped towards her and removed the seastone cuffs using the keys she assumed he stole from the Marines. Sugar instantly felt much better as her strength came back. The rabbit then reached out his cute little paw out towards her, offering her help to climb onto the crane.

She stared at the two talking animals, contemplating what to do. But then again… They knew her sister and that was enough.

She grabbed one more bowl of grapes before taking the rabbit’s paw and leaving with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH SUGAR! This was one of the chapters I was excited to get to and I hope it turned out ok! thanks again all of you for kudos and comments <3


	8. Wedding plans

A hot cup of tea in the afternoon was just what Perospero needed to relax. Earlier that day, Mama called for a family meeting to announce that they’ll be having a tea party that will surpass every other tea party they’ve had so far. 

Naturally the younger siblings were all so excited while the older ones knew that all the stress and responsibility of planning the whole event would fall on their shoulders. It didn’t help that Mama just had to mention it was also going to be the most important marriage of any of her children.

So yes, the expectations were extremely high for this one. Mont-d’Or was assigned to oversee the whole operation and gave tasks to everyone else. Perospero had the ‘honor’ of contacting the Underworld emperors and pirates to invite them to the big celebration. 

Perospero didn’t envy his little brother. On top of stressing over the tea party, Mont-d’Or was also freaking out over potentially dealing with the Straw Hats when the time came. Of course they'd be no match for Mama, but they needed to keep the damage to a minimum to refrain from further tarnishing their name after what happened on Fishman Island.

There was no set date yet for the tea party but Mont-d’Or was freaking out so much that he wanted to be “so ready that we’ve got Plans A to Z, then Plans 1-100”. 

As much as Perospero wanted to do his work in the lab, he was afraid that he’d be too…  _ distracted _ to actually get anything done. He may be enjoying his time with Monet more than usual lately but his family still came first. He had 84 siblings to take care of, for candy’s sake.

Perospero instead went to Candy Island after the meeting at the chateau and had been on the _ den den mushi _ the whole day dealing with the various contacts of the Underworld, when he decided he needed a break.

But there were no breaks for the executives of the Big Mom Pirates.

_ Puru puru puru _

Perospero sighed as he put his still fresh hot tea down, and picked up the  _ den den mushi _ .

“ _ Ah, Perospero-kun, Morgans here! _ ”

“Morgans-san, how may I help you?” Perospero knew it was never a good thing when that bird called, always trying to worm his way into getting big news.

“ _ Very sorry for calling you, I know how busy you are but I just thought that _ ,  _ as a  _ dear friend _ of the family, I simply had to warn you.” _

He didn’t like where this was going. Perospero waited for Morgans to continue.

“ _I’m aware that the Big Mom Pirates are after the scientist Caesar Clown now and_ _a little birdie just happened to tell me that CP-0 is being sent to hunt down the main officers of the Donquixote Family._ ”

Of course Perospero instantly thought of the green-haired woman and her sister, not the scientist he was referring to. He replied casually, hoping Morgans didn't know about the two sisters. “Oh? And do you know why they were assigned this mission?”

“ _ I have yet to figure that out. You’d think that having Doflamingo himself would be enough for them. Still, best be careful once you have Caesar Clown with you _ .”

Perospero had a feeling that wasn’t all the journalist had to say.

“ _ It’s strange though, I also received word recently of a rabbit and bird seen rescuing an already captured officer. If I recall, the reports also said those animals didn’t look like minks, more like the work of a  _ certain  _ Devil Fruit _ ...”

And there it was.

When news that the Beast Pirates lost to the Marine forces and failed to retake their SMILE supplier - Doflamingo - reached Totto Land, Perospero actually hoped that their own rescue operation would be nothing compared to such a headline. 

But Morgans was a great journalist with a great network and an even greater need for any ‘big scoop’ he could find.

“What do you want, Morgans-san?” Perospero could no longer hide the venom in his voice, it was not the day to get him more stressed out than he already was.

He heard the journalist laugh. “ _ Oh, Perospero-kun, I’m simply trying to help you and your family.” _

Perospero wanted to roll his eyes. Yeah right, he knew Morgans loved trading information and it didn’t matter who he traded with, as long as it meant he got his next exclusive news story.

“ _ By the way _ ,  _ I’d also like to apologize for missing your call earlier and I’d be honored to attend your mother’s next tea party. I’m sure this wedding will be  _ big news  _ as well. Take care now. _ ”

_ Ka-cha _

Perospero was going to strangle that birdbrain the next time he saw him. 

Rationalizing the situation, Perospero hoped that perhaps Morgans felt grateful to be invited to such a high profile wedding and thought to clue him in on knowing about Sugar as a sign of gratitude. At least, that’s what he told himself. No one from the Underworld ever did things for others out of ‘gratitude’.

Then there was that mention of CP-0. Just why were they hunting down Doflamingo’s crew? Was it to get Sugar’s power specifically, to maybe use it to their advantage?

Monet told Perospero all about her sister, of what she was capable of and why someone so young was an essential part of Doflamingo’s takeover of Dressrosa.

Perospero was amazed that such a devil fruit power existed and thought it even suited Totto Land. Sure Mama could just turn toys into living things using her own abilities, but this new power could be used on their enemies. Forgetting about a person’s existence? Sugar’s power was definitely something worth taking back from the Marines.

As much as he wanted to focus on his little side mission to help Monet, the call from Morgans reminded Perospero that he still had a few calls of his own to make or he'd never hear the end of it from Mont-d'Or. 

And now his hot cup of tea was practically  _ iced _ tea. 

Dammit.

* * *

"This Sugar girl sounds really impressive. I can’t believe how well you guys were able to keep her away from the news, a power like that would fetch her a high bounty for sure." Cracker was leaning on the control panel, still absorbing Monet’s story about her sister.

He decided to pass by the lab after the big family meeting at the chateau. He meant for his visit to be a surprise but it was he who was shocked when he saw Monet’s eyes puffy, a sign that she had been crying recently.

Cracker immediately thought it was because of Perospero and was ready to go ‘teach his older brother a lesson’ when Monet stopped him by telling him all about Sugar and that Perospero was actually helping her out.

Thankfully Cracker calmed down after he learned the truth. Telling the story just made Monet miss her sister more. “Sugar is one of the smartest and strongest girls I know.”

Cracker smiled at the harpy. "You really love your sister, huh?" 

Monet smiled back as she thought of Sugar. "She's been my only family until Doffy took us in. We had a rough childhood before that but it helped that we had each other." 

She still remembered how happy she and her sister were when Doffy declared them officially part of the Donquixote family. They almost forgot what it was like to trust someone other than themselves. 

Cracker put a hand on her shoulder. "Oi, you'll see her soon. The Big Mom Pirates always deliver."

Monet smiled up at him, she really did appreciate that he stopped by, stayed to listen to her, and even threatened his older brother when he thought he had something to do with her crying.

Speaking of his brother, "Hey, do you know if Perospero will be visiting today?" 

"Why? You miss him?" Cracker grinned and Monet realized that it was probably a signature expression all the Charlotte siblings shared. 

"No, it's just that he promised me he'd visit today to help out but it's getting late so I'm not sure." Monet blushed, hoping that didn’t sound as ‘clingy’ as she thought it did.

"He left right after the meeting to go do something for Mama and Mont-d’Or but don't worry, I have a feeling he misses you too. He kept looking at the clock the whole morning like he’d rather be  _ somewhere else _ ." Cracker winked and Monet blushed even more. 

Sure she and Perospero had been much friendlier towards each other than when they first met, but she didn't think the eldest Charlotte son was  _ attracted  _ to her or anything like that.

It made her face heat up just thinking about it. Monet knew she was still red by how wide Cracker’s grin still was. She crossed her wings in front of her, hoping to distract him. “I just thought that he’d have more news about Sugar for me by now. That’s all.” 

Cracker narrowed his eyes at her playfully before laughing. “Sure, Monet, you keep telling yourself that.”

She decided not to reply, that was the safer option in case she said anything else that could fuel his teasing.

Cracker pushed away from the panel and patted her head playfully. “Well, as fun as it was catching up with you, Mont-d’Or also needs me to run some errands for him. Plus, I can see my presence here isn’t appreciated.” 

He pouted overdramatically as he entered the lift. Monet laughed as she waved at him. 

As soon as he left, Monet turned back to the screens but still couldn’t help thinking of Sugar. The last she heard from Perospero was that two Homies had already recovered her sister so now all there was to do was wait. 

She was still worried though, what if the Marines or maybe even one of Doflamingo’s enemies were to come after them? Perospero had rolled his eyes at that and simply stated that the Big Mom Pirates were more than capable of handling that kind of situation. 

Monet was still deep in thought, thinking of various paranoia-induced scenarios when she suddenly heard a baby crying.

“Hush now, Pez. I know the place looks scary.” came another voice over the baby’s crying.

Monet turned around and saw a woman carrying what really was a baby... with a cigar-shaped binky? At least, she  _ hoped  _ it was a binky, there was no smoke coming from it anyway.

The woman cradling the infant smiled down at him and kissed his forehead, that action calmed him down and made him giggle. 

Monet stood up from her chair and approached her two visitors after deciding they weren’t a threat.

The pink-haired woman smiled up at Monet. “I passed by Cracker-oniisan and he said you’d be here. I’m Chiffon, one of Big Mom’s daughters.” Chiffon then gestured to the giggling baby in her arms. “And this little guy is my son, Pez.”

Monet gave a hesitant smile to the baby. She remembered how some of the kids in Punk Hazard were uncomfortable being around a “monster” once she had her limbs replaced.

But Pez didn’t shy away. Instead, he giggled louder and even tried to reach out to hold her wing. Chiffon smiled. “I knew he’d like you.”

Monet offered him her wing and Pez grabbed at it with his tiny hand, ruffling whatever feathers he could. Monet chuckled before turning back to the baby’s mother. “May I ask why you and little Pez decided to drop by?”

The other woman blushed. “Ah well, you see my husband Bege is out hunting Caesar now and I was just curious to see this lab everyone keeps talking about.”

There was a pause where the only sound heard was Pez laughing, Monet noticed Chiffon was hesitating to continue. “And also the woman Peros-onii is smitten with.”

Monet choked out a laugh. The surprise made her stumble and take her wing back from Pez, which made him start sobbing. “He’s  _ what _ ?”

Chiffon first calmed down her baby who had just lost his current source of entertainment. “He likes you, isn’t that why he keeps coming over?”

Monet shook her head. “He’s here because we work together! Not because he’s…  _ courting _ me or anything.” Just saying the word made her face feel warm and her stomach twist. 

Chiffon wasn’t grinning like her older brother Cracker was earlier, so Monet hoped the other woman didn’t notice how she was trying her best not to blush. Instead, Chiffon just looked confused, “Oh? But I heard the renovations finished days ago.”

“No, he’s been too busy to stay for longer than a few hours a day so the work is done slowly”

The Charlotte daughter still looked puzzled as she continued to bounce her baby boy. “Hmm, that doesn't sound like him. Usually he wouldn't stop working on one project until it was done.”

Monet couldn’t deny that the man seemed like the perfectionist type. She recalled how they spent forever fixing up one room because he could ‘feel that the measurements were off’. To his credit, they were, but it took awhile for them to move on to the next room.

Chiffon hummed thoughtfully, bringing Monet out of her thoughts. “Of course, he was still as vocal as ever at the meeting earlier, but it seemed like he couldn’t wait to get out of there.”

There was that ‘meeting again’. Curiosity got the better of Monet and Chiffon did seem like a kind person… “That meeting you mentioned. Cracker told me he came from one earlier, I assume it’s the same thing?”

Chiffon adjusted her shoulder to better carry a sleepy-looking Pez. “Oh yes! The whole family was there. Mama’s planning the biggest tea party yet.”

Monet heard of Big Mom’s infamous tea parties. If one was invited, you were basically obligated to go if you valued your life. Doffy used to tell stories like that to emphasize how crazy the yonkos were, and that they were to stay far away from their territories.

Funny how things have changed since then.

Monet stared down at the sleeping infant, lowering her voice as not to wake him. “What makes this party so special?”

Chiffon’s eyes seemed to light up then. “My little sister is getting married to a Vinsmoke!”

Monet would frequently read that name in the news. She had no idea they operated out of the North Blue though. They were the family the evil comic book villains of  _ Sora, Warrior of the Sea  _ was based on. She smiled inwardly remembering how she used to read those comics with Sugar.

“Hopefully this Sanji person will be a good match for Pudding. It worked out with Bege and I, anyway.” Chiffon smiled softly, probably thinking about her own husband.

Wait, did she say Sanji? “Chiffon, do you mean Black Leg Sanji of the Straw Hats?” 

“Yes! We didn’t even know he was a Vinsmoke until just recently. What luck that he’s traveling with Caesar, my Bege’s gonna get two for the price of one!” 

While Chiffon was busy smiling over her husband’s success, Monet was too distraught to congratulate her. She thought that with Doflamingo gone, Law and the Straw Hats would dump Caesar off at a Marine ship or something. But now, not only was she going to see her old boss again, but one -if not all- of the Straw Hats as well. It was as if her chaotic past from Punk Hazard was never going to leave her alone.

She could only hope that the Straw Hats would be no match for the Big Mom Pirates when the time came. I mean, Big Mom was a Yonko. Not even Straw Hat Luffy and Law were crazy enough to take her on in her own territory, surrounded by her children with high bounties.

Right?

Then there was something else bothering her. 

Once the lab was complete and Caesar arrived, what would happen to her? Obviously even with all the equipment, Caesar wouldn’t be able to successfully finish the gigantification project and Big Mom would have his head. Monet didn’t feel like sticking around as his accomplice for that.

Of course, while he’d try to scheme his way to ‘buy more time’, what about her? Would they lock her up in a book? Take her life force? Make her serve some other way seeing as they still had her heart?

Then what about Sugar? How was she going to protect her sister when the time came?

Monet started panicking  _ again _ . All these thoughts haunting her and she had no idea what to do first. It frustrated her that she used to be able to handle worst case scenarios but that all changed when the Straw Hats arrived.

And apparently they weren’t done messing with her life.

“Oh, that reminds me!” Chiffon’s startled gasp was too loud for Pez and the baby started crying. “I’m sorry, Pez. Shh, shh.” she waited for her son to calm down, humming softly and stroking his tiny head.

Chiffon turned back to Monet, smiling apologetically. “I got a little excited, sorry. You see, Mama is expecting the biggest and most delicious wedding cake ever to be at this party. The head chef - Streussen-san - needs my help in coming up with a good chiffon cake recipe.”

“Let me guess, you’re the best at making Chiffon cakes.” Monet patted Pez’s head playfully, earning a little giggle. \

“You bet!” Chiffon’s eyes lit up suddenly. “You’re welcome to join me, if you like. I’m sure Streussen-san will want to meet the woman who saved Totto Land from Mama’s latest Hunger Pang attack.”

Monet only shook her head. “You’ll all be very busy planning for the wedding and I wouldn’t want to impose.”

With the strength and grace a mother would have, Chiffon shifted Pez into one arm as she grabbed Monet’s wing with the other, already walking towards the lift. “Nonsense! And don’t tell me something like Peros-onii not allowing you to leave, either. I heard about you going out with Cracker-onii and Brulee-onee.”

Monet had to give it to Chiffon, she did have a point. Plus, maybe leaving the lab would take her mind off all those depressing thoughts of Punk Hazard, Caesar, the Straw Hats and everything else.

Monet smiled at Chiffon. “You know what, sounds like fun. And I’d get to spend some more time with little Pez, too!”

The baby giggled as they took the lift down.

* * *

Monet had only been to the chateau one other time, when they first brought her to the prison library. She remembered the halls being quiet and filled with only a handful of soldiers and servants. Now however, it was bustling with activity, lots of people running around this way and that. 

Monet moved out of the way of one servant who couldn’t see over the number of boxes he was carrying. “Is it always like this when there’s a tea party?”

“More or less. But Mama hasn’t been this excited over a wedding since  _ Lol _ -... since forever.” Chiffon caught herself at the end there and Monet didn’t think it was the best time to pry. She noticed how Chiffon got sort of sad as she finished speaking.

She thought it best to change the topic. “Then I hope your chiffon cake lives up to expectations, hmm?”

That seemed to cheer the other woman up quickly. “My cakes always do.” 

It amused Monet how each of the Charlotte siblings were so passionate and proud about food. She stifled a laugh just imagining how people like Mont-d’Or were with their specialties, probably saying something like ‘ _ I’ll make the best damned cheese these people have ever tasted _ ’.

Monet was so distracted imagining how the other siblings would be like that she didn’t even notice they reached a brightly lit, pink and extremely huge kitchen. The room being filled with different delicious-smelling aromas was the first thing that hit her. It was like a buffet of various exquisite culinary dishes. 

Monet looked around and saw different meals, sandwiches, pastries and the like. The cooks dressed in pink and white were all running around tasting their creations or still busy cooking them. 

“Welcome to the greatest kitchen in the New World.” Monet thought that without Pez in her arms, Chiffon would’ve made some sort of grand gesture towards the place. Chiffon had to speak louder as she was competing against the yelling of the other chefs and the sounds of pots and pans. 

Chiffon guided her towards the center of the kitchen where there stood a short old man wearing a pink chef’s hat. He was busy tasting a batch of brownies and scrutinizing it.

“Hmm… try again and give it a few more minutes in the oven.” the man put the spoon down as he finished.

“Yes, chef!” the other cooks quickly rushed away to follow their leader’s instructions.

The old man spotted Monet and Chiffon and gave the two a big smile. “Ah, Chiffon and little Pez! I’ve been expecting the two of you. But who is this beautiful young lady with you?”

Chiffon let the man hold her baby, as Pez had already started reaching out to the chef. “Streussen-san, this is Monet. The girl who helped Moscato-onii with the ice cream.”

Streussen’s eyes lit up. “Ohhhhhh! My dear I cannot thank you enough for your assistance. Who knows how much damage Linlin would’ve caused if you hadn’t stepped in.”

Monet blushed at the man’s praise and also from his ‘beautiful’ comment earlier. “That was nothing. I was happy to help out the pirates who saved my life.”

“Ah yes, I know about that, too. I hope little Perospero has been treating you well, making sure you’re well fed?” 

Monet noticed how casual he called Big Mom  _ Linlin _ , and now _ little _ Perospero. Streussen must be a more important figure to the Big Mom Pirates than she thought. “Yes, I assume the food that I’m served comes from your recipes. Thank you, I’ve never had meals that tasted so delicious.”

It was Streussen’s turn to blush. “You flatter me, my dear girl! Now, Chiffon, you have that recipe ready for me, yet?”

“Oh yes! It’s right here. I spoke to Pudding too and we came up with a chiffon cake that will perfectly pair with the best chocolate flavor.” Chiffon handed him a piece of paper as he gave her back baby Pez.

Streussen went over the ingredients and instructions quickly, his smile widening the longer he read. "I'm salivating just looking at it! Excellent, Chiffon! This will be my greatest creation yet.”

“Streussen-san I must warn you, the ingredients are a lot since this is a huge cake, we might need to…  _ procure _ them in some other ways.” Chiffon looked at him strangely, as if trying to tell him something without alerting Monet.

The head chef simply laughed. “Chiffon my girl, no need for that. Monet is a pirate herself, is she not? I’m sure she knows all about stealing from other islands.”

Monet smiled back, assuring Chiffon it was fine. “Oh I may have committed a crime or two...”

Streussen clapped his hands, securing the recipe in his pocket. “I like this girl already! No wonder Perospero has taken a shine to you.”

_ Perospero what?  _

Monet couldn’t comment on what Streussen said as the man himself wasn’t done talking. “Now, as much as I’d love to spend time with you ladies and this wonderful baby boy, I must be getting back to work.”

“We understand, Streussen-san. Good luck, let me know if you need more help with the cake.” Chiffon waved goodbye at him and the few other chefs as she walked with Monet towards the door. 

“Yes, yes. You just worry about your husband securing a groom for this wedding otherwise this would all be for nothing!”

Monet left the kitchen still stunned by what the chef said earlier. Did everyone on the island think she and Perospero were…  _ something _ ?

Chiffon giggled as they walked along the hallway. “I don’t know about you, but all that food’s made me hungry. Why don’t we go get something to eat before we head back to the lab, hmm?” 

Hoping to enjoy the rest of the day, Monet pushed thoughts of a certain candy man to the back of her mind as she nodded at Chiffon. “Lead the way.”

* * *

Tamago was by the docks waiting for Randolph and Crane to arrive. The two reported earlier that they should be reaching the mainland soon. Tamago still wasn’t sure why Perospero-sama was interested in recovering one of Doflamingo’s crewmembers, however. 

Of course, he did his research and discovered that the girl Sugar was responsible for the toys in Dressrosa. Perhaps Perospero-sama realized her power could be used by Mama? Or did this Monet girl have anything to do with it? And why contact him directly and not relay the order to Mont-d’Or?

He didn’t doubt the Minister of Candy’s reasons, just found it odd.

It wasn’t long until a ship arrived and out came Randolph and Crane. Behind them was an adorable little girl with grapes on her fingers. She laughed as she playfully ran after the two animal homies making their way towards Tamago.

The rabbit hopped off of Crane and bowed towards his superior. “Tamago-san, mission successful.”

“Excellent.” Tamago bent down to get a closer look at their new guest. He tipped his hat off as a greeting and smiled. “Hello there, Sugar-kun. We’ve been expecting you.”

The little girl had been staring at him ever since they approached him. Or rather, she seemed to be staring at a particular point on his face. Sugar’s eyes widened and the grapes dropped from her fingers.

Suddenly...

“ _ LONG-NOSE! LONG-NOSE! GET AWAY FROM ME! NOT AGAIN! _ ” Sugar started yelling and running back towards the ship, her eyes bulging out from their sockets. Randolph and Crane ran after her, trying to calm her down by offering her more grapes. 

Tamago could only stare dumbfoundedly at the commotion. He thought back to the Charlottes like Brulee-sama, Mont-d’Or-sama, Mama, and even Perospero-sama himself. They all did have the same feature Sugar was freaking out about. 

Well.. this was certainly an interesting problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Sugar's back and come on, I couldn't not write about her being afraid of people with long-noses when the Charlottes are just full of 'em, including Perospero himself. No Perospero/Monet interactions here but a little bit of feels and a bit of Monet interacting with the other Big Mom Pirates. Thanks to everyone following this story and for leaving kudos and comments <3


	9. Sugar rush

It wasn't often that Perospero asked favors from his younger siblings. Orders, yes. Favors? That was a different story. 

It hurt his pride as the eldest son to ask them for anything, especially when it wasn't something that concerned their mother or their pirate crew. 

Sure he asked Compote recently to take care of his duties but that one was nothing compared to what and _who_ he was going to ask a favor from now. 

"Peros-onii, what brings you to Biscuit Island?" Perospero could tell Cracker was genuinely surprised that he decided to drop by his home. The older sibling was invited inside and they were now sitting on a couch in the living room. 

"Cracker… I need you to do something for me." It took all of Perospero's willpower to get that out of the way. 

Cracker looked like he was about to make a joke but wisely decided otherwise. "What's up? Is Monet ok?" 

"Why do you assume it's about her?" Perospero glared at Cracker, not forgetting all the times he was teased whenever Monet was brought up. 

Cracker did nothing but shrug. "Last time I saw her, she looked like she'd been crying for days. Not like you would know, though..." 

As much as Perospero wanted to comment on his brother’s rather snide remark and the little side eye to go with it, Cracker was right. He hadn't been to the lab for a while now as he was too busy with the upcoming wedding and making sure they wouldn’t have to suffer Mama’s wrath. 

It helped to know though that Cracker still visited Monet. If she really were still as sad as his brother said said she was, at least she wasn’t lonely.

"It does involve her, yes. Has she told you about her sister?" At Cracker's nod, he continued, "Sugar arrived in Totto Land yesterday. Randolph and Crane are escorting her now to Whole Cake but there's a slight problem…" 

Cracker leaned on the wall of his living room. "What kind of problem? Is she hurt?" 

"You could say that. She has trauma from what happened to her at Dressrosa." 

That got Cracker's attention. He seemed hesitant to ask, "What did the Straw Hats do?" 

"She was defeated by this 'God Usopp'." Perospero brought up said pirate's bounty poster for his brother to see. 

Cracker leaned in to examine the photo and then promptly scoffed. "Hmph, a measly 200-million berry bounty and he calls himself a god? Yeah right." 

Perospero put the poster away. "The _point_ is, Sugar's been terrified of certain… _facial features_ ever since and won't let anyone with said features near her." 

Tamago informed him right away about what happened when Sugar saw the bird man. Thankfully Randolph and Crane were able to calm her down and ask what was wrong.

Honestly, out of all the things she could’ve remembered from that encounter… it had to be _that_.

Cracker looked like he was trying too hard to understand. "I don't get it. What facial features? Long hair? Big eyes?" 

And here it was. Perospero counted to 5 in his head to muster up the courage to say what he needed to say next. "She's afraid of people with long noses." 

"... Come again?" 

"I _said_ she's afraid of people with long no-" 

"HAHAHAHAHAHA SHE'S AFRAID OF- HAHAHA AND YOU HAVE- HAHAHA" 

Of course Perospero expected this reaction from Cracker, but he didn't trust anyone else with this task. Katakuri maybe, but the eldest sweet commander had enough on his plate to be bothered with this. 

He took a sip of hot tea as Cracker’s howling died down. “You done?”

"Yep." 

"Got that out of your system?" 

"I did." 

"Good." Perospero set his tea down and continued, "So now you know why I can't bring Sugar to Monet without potentially freaking out the poor girl. Randolph and Crane can't be seen walking through the city as they're supposed to be out gathering ingredients now for the tea party." 

"Why not just have them go through Mirroworl- oh Brulee has a long nose too yeah my bad, realized it too late." Cracker stifled a chuckle and Perospero had to keep reminding himself that the biscuit man was still the best choice for this.

The option to talk to Katakuri was getting really tempting now, though. "That's why I need you to take Sugar to Monet. The girl's only trusted us this long because we promised to take her to her sister." 

"Yeah, of course I’ll do it. It's to help Monet plus I'd do anything to get away from the errands Mont-d'Or assigned me to do today." 

Perospero’s shoulders relaxed. "Thank you, Cracker. Just be at the Seducing Woods in an hour, Randolph and Crane should be there with Sugar soon." 

"Understood, Peros-onii. Anything else you need?" 

The Minister of Candy knew he risked another teasing from Cracker, but he needed to ask. "Thank you for checking up on Monet, how is she?" 

To his surprise - and relief - Cracker didn't poke fun at him. "I heard Chiffon's been at the lab too to keep her company. Monet's still sad, but I'm sure having her sister back will cheer her up." 

"Yes, I believe so." 

"Peros-onii…" Perospero was already standing and by the door when he heard his brother. "You should go and see her. It'd be good for the both of you." 

Perospero's heart clenched at that. He felt guilty for not visiting sure, but he had other matters to attend to, to help his family. "I'm busy making sure Mama doesn't unleash her anger out on us, Cracker, you know that. Monet will have her hands full with taking care of Sugar now, anyway. I'll start helping out at the lab again soon." 

"Just… think about it. We have these tea parties all the time and Mont-d'Or's doing a lot of the planning for this one pretty well all by himself anyway... Please don't ever tell him I said that though or I'll never hear the end of it." Cracker got up from where he was leaning on the wall and stretched. 

Perospero laughed half-heartedly, he appreciated his brother's concern and he will indeed think about it at least. "Thank you again, Cracker. You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't serious." 

"Yeah, yeah don't get all dramatic on me, Peros-onii. I'll let you know once Sugar's with Monet." 

"Please do." 

As Perospero closed the door behind him and started walking, he couldn't help but remember what Cracker said earlier. 

_Looked like she'd been crying for days_. 

He felt a sudden need to go to her, imagining himself being able to bring back that smile of hers and burn from the sheer brightness of it. Then he felt cold as he heard Mama’s voice in the back of his head telling him to do better, to _be_ better, for the crew and the family.

He clenched his fists and decided a compromise was in order.

* * *

Monet’s day was going as well as all her other days were recently. She knew Chiffon and Cracker were too busy to see her at least, while Perospero didn’t even bother to pass by anymore. 

She didn’t think it was fair to be mad at him for that, though. The candy man already helped her a lot and she assumed he’d be one of the more involved executives when it came to this tea party.

Didn’t mean it didn’t suck, though.

With Perospero off doing something else, work at the lab stopped and Monet found herself training her devil fruit powers again and learning more about the Straw Hats. It helped to be prepared, at least.

She was about to go and do just that after finishing a hearty breakfast when she heard the doors behind her open.

“Special delivery!” that was Cracker’s voice. She thought he was too busy to-

“Onee-chan!” 

Monet turned around quickly, her heart probably hammering off in its box. Tears were already forming in her eyes as she saw a small familiar figure run towards her. 

She felt the dark storm that’s been surrounding her suddenly clear up and were replaced by sunny skies as soon as she saw-

“Sugar!” Monet dragged herself off her chair, pieces of paper scattering everywhere, and met her sister halfway. She wanted to lift her sister up into the air but was afraid her wings and legs would shake from her intense emotions. So instead she dropped down onto the floor, hugging Sugar tightly.

It had been far too long. As soon as she felt Sugar hold her back, she felt as warm as the first coffee in the morning on Punk Hazard. 

“Onee-chan! It’s really you! I thought… I thought you-” Sugar was shaking as well, and her tears were falling freely. 

“I’m here, Sugar, I’m ok. And I’m so proud of how strong you’ve been, you’re such a brave little girl!” Monet did her best to wipe the tears from Sugar’s face, though she knew she was looking about the same as her sister was. It was so surreal, she felt like this moment could crack at any moment and she’d be tossed back into some cruel, cold reality.

But Sugar was really here, in her arms, smelling of grapes, the sea and candy.

“I… We couldn’t… the young master, he-” Sugar was sobbing in between sentences and Monet shushed her calmly.

“It’s not your fault, little sis. You did everything you could and the young master knows that, ok? Think nothing more of it.”

Sugar clung tighter to her sister. “Onee-chan... your arms… your legs. Did Caesar do this to you?”

Monet smiled reassuringly. She never did tell Sugar about Law's visit to Punk Hazard. “I did this for the young master, not Caesar. I’ll tell you everything once you get settled in, hmm?”

Sugar didn’t move though from where she was still hugging her sister. The little girl placed a hand above Monet’s left breast.

“Why can’t I hear your heartbeat?” Sugar took her hand away as she asked the question slowly. Snow, blood and metal flashed in Monet’s mind but she tucked it away to the back of her mind. It was not the time.

She stroked the top of Sugar’s head and smiled. “Like I said, I’ll tell you everything soon. Just know that it’s really me, and we’re finally reunited.”

That seemed enough to satisfy Sugar. “Ok then.” 

Monet stood up from the floor and approached Cracker, the man smiled sweetly. “Glad you got your sister back.”

Without warning, Monet wrapped her wings around the sweet commander. “Thank you, Cracker. For bringing her here.”

She felt the vibrations from his laugh tickle her as he patted her head. “It was nothing. And you’re right, I just brought her here… _specifically_ … to the lab. You know who really made all this possible, right?”

Monet slowly let go of the man as she tried to process his words. She couldn’t help but frown as it dawned on her who he meant. “Yeah… if he comes by soon, I’ll thank him as well.”

“Oi! None of that sad Monet anymore, your sister’s back. Go on, spend time with her. I’ll let the Homies bring some food, she must be craving something good to eat.” With a final reassuring squeeze on her shoulder, Cracker was already on his way out and Monet knew nothing else needed to be said.

She turned back to her sister who was now standing on top of a chair, eyes glued to the different monitors. Monet couldn’t help but cry again, this was real. This was happening. She had her family back. It made her want to soar.

“Onee-chan, you got any grapes around here? Wait… is that table made out of candy!?”

Monet could only laugh.

* * *

The food arrived quickly and Sugar happily gobbled up everything she could get her hands on. Monet had to admit that she’d been too depressed to eat lately so she was quite hungry now, too.

Since the candy table was really only big enough for a few plates, the Homies brought in a long foldable one to set the food on top of, while Monet and Sugar sat on opposite ends. 

“The food here’s better than what they served at Dressrosa!” Sugar took another helping of steak, downing it with grape juice. 

“That’s exactly what I thought when I first got here.” Monet started taking smaller servings, wanting Sugar to eat most of the food. “I’ve been told Big Mom hires only the best chefs to cook the food here, and her children have exceptional culinary skills as well.

Sugar looked so excited every time she tried a new dish and started smiling as soon as she got a taste. “I’m so glad you ended up getting sent to Totto Land instead of somewhere like, I don’t know, Wano maybe. I would never have forgiven you knowing that there’s food like this in the New World and we didn’t get a chance to try some.”

Monet laughed but thought that it really was lucky she ended up in Totto Land. She didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened if the Marines or the Beast Pirates found her first.

“Maybe when Chiffon visits again, we could all go explore the island more and you’ll get to try even more delicious treats.”

Sugar was adorable as she quickly gulped down a piece of ham to smile at her sister, “Ooooh! Sounds like fun!” 

As Monet looked at her sister’s eyes shining brightly with excitement, it was only then that she noticed Sugar was no longer wearing the monocle she was so fond of. “Sugar, what happened to your monocle?”

Monet instantly regretted bringing it up as Sugar’s mood suddenly turned sour and her voice sounded cold. “It broke right before I fell unconscious that first time. I have it in my pocket in case I could get it fixed.”

“...Sugar, what do you mean unconscious _that first time_?” As much as Monet wanted to save the topic of Dressrosa for later, she was worried what kind of baggage her little sister was carrying. She knew what that was like and she didn’t wish that on Sugar. 

Sugar took a sip from her grape juice before facing Monet. “To force the toys to turn back into humans, one of the Straw Hats practically scared me to death and I lost consciousness for an hour, I think it was.”

Part of Monet felt relieved that they didn’t do anything physically violent. Her mind was going crazy when she tried to connect a broken monocle with Sugar losing consciousness. “And that was the first time?”

“Yeah. The second one happened back in the palace…” Sugar paused and she looked down at her lap, refusing to face her sister.

Monet stood from her chair and knelt down beside her sister, gently placing a wing on her chin to encourage Sugar to look up at her. “Hey, if you don’t want to talk about it yet, it’s fine. Tell you what. We can take turns telling stories, hmm? You share something about Dressrosa, I share something about Punk Hazard. That sound fair?”

Some of the light in Sugar’s eyes returned. “Yeah, ok.” 

Monet stood up and kissed Sugar on her forehead before going back to her own seat. “Anything you want to know first?”

Sugar simply pointed at Monet’s wing. “Did it hurt?”

“No, not at all. You remember the young master’s stories about Trafalgar Law’s devil fruit? He used it on me and a few others.”

“...he used it to remove your heart, too?”

Monet thought she’d forget about that part, but it was too much to hope for. “Yes, Caesar wanted Law’s heart as a sign of trust and gave mine in exchange.”

Sugar refilled her glass with some more juice. “Do you know where it is now?”

A flash of yellow and a grinning face appeared in Monet’s mind. She felt her face grow warm but Sugar didn’t seem to notice. “It’s safe where it is for now.”

“I guess it’s my turn.” Sugar looked more nervous than she was sad like earlier. “You promise not to laugh?”

Monet smiled inwardly, her sister’ mood seemed to improve if she was acting all shy like that instead of sulking. “Hmmm… I don’t know...”

“Onee-chan!” She missed seeing Sugar’s pout when she teased her.

“Ok, ok, I promise!” 

Sugar gave one more playful huff before taking a deep breath. “The second time happened when I was trying to turn Straw Hat Luffy and Trafalgar Law into toys. Suddenly this… drawing of God Usopp appeared in front of me and it scared me.. .again.” She turned her head to the side. “I think I’m traumatized by people with long noses now because of what happened.”

Monet saw this self proclaimed god’s bounty poster when she requested to see all the Straw Hats’ latest bounties. The man didn’t seem terrifying in his photo but Monet didn’t want to tease Sugar for what happened. She wasn’t there, she didn’t know what the situation was like. 

Sugar looked back up at Monet, still nervous. “I’m gonna get over this, right? I don’t want to cry and faint every time I see a long-nosed person.”

Monet thought of her own experience at Punk Hazard with another member of the Straw Hats. It was her turn to tell a story, after all. “Sugar… are you familiar with the green-haired swordsman of the Straw Hats?” At her sister’s nod, she continued. “I fought him back in the original lab. Well, I say fought but really he sliced me in half and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Sugar dropped her utensils she was using to cut a slice of meat. “But, you’re a Logia-type. Couldn’t you have just retained your shape right after?"

Monet willed herself not to shake as she took a few deep breaths. She could do this. “Like you, Sugar, I was practically scared to death, you could say frozen in fear. I was trembling from what happened that I couldn’t move and transform back to normal until much later.”

Sugar stayed quiet and Monet took that as a sign to continue. “When I got here, I tensed up every time I heard the clanging of a sword. The man who brought you here, Cracker, at first I couldn’t trust myself to be anywhere near his weapon.” 

Monet remembered one time she turned her chair and almost screamed from seeing it so close to her. Cracker, the kind man he was, apologized profusely even when he didn’t know what was wrong. “But as his visits grew more frequent, it became less and less of a problem until I hardly ever think about it anymore.”

She smiled at her little sister who seemed to be processing her story. “You’ll be able to move on, too. It would help to be around people with long noses.”

Sugar hummed thoughtfully. “I saw a chicken-looking guy with one recently, are there a lot of other long-nosed people around here?”

“Actually, there’s-” It was Monet’s turn to drop her utensils as she suddenly realized what Cracker had been trying to point out earlier. Her eyes widened as she remembered his words.

 _I just brought her here…_ specifically _… to the lab_

The realization hit her like Roronoa Zoro’s swords.

He _knew_.

Perospero knew Sugar would be traumatized if she saw him so he let Cracker be the one to bring her to the lab. 

Even if Perospero did want to see Monet to bring Sugar back to her, he couldn’t.

Monet’s stomach was in knots and she felt tears threatening to fall as a waterfall’s worth of emotions came crashing down on her. Perospero cared so much to go through all that trouble for her?

She needed to see him… soon.

“Onee-chan, are you ok?” Monet didn’t even notice that Sugar had stood up from her seat and was now beside her, looking so concerned.

Monet smiled warmly, still so happy from her sudden discovery and from finally being able to see her sister. “I’m more than ok. Sugar, if it’s alright with you and you’re feeling up to it, I’d like you to meet the man who helped bring you back to me.”

Sugar seemed skeptical. “Hmm.. he has a long-nose too, doesn’t he?”

“That obvious, huh? If it'll convince you… he can make anything out of candy. He made that table over there.” Monet gestured to the candy table Sugar was so excited about earlier.

Sugar glanced at it before turning back to her sister. “Ok I mean, that is kinda cool. And you did say it’d help me get over my trauma..”

Monet gave her sister a big hug. “Atta, girl! Now, finish your food, take a shower, and let’s get you to bed.”

“Ughhh, it hasn’t even been a day and you’re already telling me what to do.” Sugar whined but Monet knew she meant it to be playful. It seems she wasn’t the only one who missed doing somewhat normal sister things. 

Monet let go of Sugar and walked towards the control panel, gathering the notes she scattered earlier when Sugar arrived. “Come on, as soon as you wake up tomorrow morning, I’ll take you around Whole Cake.” 

“Okie dokie! And… Onee-chan… I missed you.”

The past few days had been cold, but this one was warm enough to make up for it all. “I missed you too, little sis.”

* * *

It was still early when Monet decided to head into the surveillance room. She let Sugar sleep beside her on the bed and woke up happy that it wasn’t a dream, that her sister really was back. 

Monet decided to let Sugar sleep in so she slipped out to check if breakfast was ready. Usually the Homies brought it to the surveillance room at the same time every morning.

She was greeted by a surprise as soon as she turned the lights on.

Monet found more than the usual breakfast when she entered the room. There was so much more food plus bowls of grapes and different flavored juices all lined up beside one another. Gone was the small candy table she was used to and it was now replaced with a longer, more intricately decorated one with two equally artistic candy chairs to go with it.

Speaking of new furniture, Monet noticed a very comfy looking sleek black couch was also part of this pleasant surprise, as well as a long coffee table to go with it. She spotted something on the couch and made her way towards it.

She felt her drowsiness replace with bliss as she saw the small green candy cane beside a handwritten note.

_Good morning, my dear!_

_I trust that your little reunion went well? I heard your sister has a craving for grapes so there's a fresh bunch from Fruits Island. I hope the couch is to your liking, it’s made with only the finest materials imaginable. You shouldn’t be stuck sitting on a metal chair for a whole day and I’m sure Sugar will want something comfortable to sit on, too._

_Homies will be by later to drop off more furniture like a bed and other things your sister may need so she’s set up in her own room. I’ll be busy the whole morning making calls but I promise to see you soon, and meet Sugar if she’s fine with it._

_Enjoy the food._

_Perospero_

Monet's cheeks were sore from smiling so much as she read the letter over and over again. She could tell her heart was pounding from where it was in Perospero’s coat and she wondered if he knew it was from reading his letter. 

She plopped herself onto the couch to soak in everything that happened and-

 _Oh wow_ …

It was the comfiest sofa she ever sat her butt into. It even beat Doffy’s personal couch by the pool that he was so fond of. 

Too busy thinking about how she was going to spend the rest of the day on the brand new couch, Monet didin’t realize that Sugar had already entered the room.

She was rubbing the sleep off her eyes and let out a yawn. “I figured you’d be here. Good morning, Onee- _GRAPES! LOTS OF GRAPES_!”

As Sugar ran straight for a bowl of her favorite fruit, Monet laughed from where she was still comfortably sitting. “Sugar! Bring a bowl over here, I’ll get us some plates and food.”

While Sugar was bouncing her way towards the couch balancing three bowls already, Monet used her snow powers to carefully collect two plates, utensils, various food platters as well as drinks. She set them on top of the coffee table as Sugar sat down beside her.

The little girl scoffed. “You’re not usually that laz- _oh wow, that’s comfy_.” Sugar basically melted into the couch. 

“What was that about being lazy?” Monet smirked, as she gathered food onto her plate.

“Shut up, that was before I sat down on this majestic piece of furniture. Where’d all of this come from anyway?” Sugar gestured vaguely towards the new objects and the small feast in the room.

“It’s from the man I was telling you about last night. He’s also having a bed and a few other things brought in so you’re all set in your new room.” Monet took a sip of coffee.

Sugar was already placing grapes on her fingers, a habit she had since even before joining Doflamingo. “Will I get to meet him soon?”

Monet blushed just thinking about the letter. “He said he’d drop by when he can.”

Sugar popped a grape into her mouth and hummed contentedly. “All right. You know, my fear of long noses aside, he already sounds like an ok guy.”

Monet looked at the candy cane she placed beside her on the couch and smiled. “Yeah, he is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A dash of Sugar and a whole lotta feels? Yes I know Perospero and Monet haven't seen each other these last few chapters but I'm a sucker for the ~pining~. They'll be seeing each other very soon, don't you worry!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed the little reunion. I wanted to show the two a little bit more open with their emotions as they haven't seen each other for a while and Monet especially as she's finally with family again.
> 
> Please do leave a review if you like, they really do keep me motivated to keep writing, and a huge thank you to all those who do and to all those who are reading <3


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